US offers USD 11 mn bounty on Malala shooter, 2 other Pak Taliban leaders

Agencies
March 9, 2018

Washington, Mar 9: The State's Rewards for Justice Program of the US State Department is offering rewards for information leading to the identification or location of three key leaders associated with the terrorist organisation Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and its affiliated factions.

It is offering a reward of up to USD 5 million for information on TTP leader Maulana Fazlullah, and up to USD three million each for information on Abdul Wali and Mangal Bagh.

According to the US State Department, Fazlullah who is responsible the October 9, 2012, shooting of Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai, has claimed responsibility for numerous terrorist acts against Pakistani and US interests, including the failed attempt by Pakistani national Faisal Shahzad to detonate an explosive device in New York City's Times Square on May 1, 2010.

Under his leadership, the TTP has also claimed responsibility for the December 16, 2014, attack on a school in Peshawar in Pakistan in which gunmen killed 148 people, including 132 students and for the June 2012 beheading of 17 Pakistani soldiers.

In 2015, the US State Department designated Fazlullah as a 'Specially Designated Global Terrorist' under the Executive Order 13224, which freezes all of his assets based in the US or in possession or control of US persons.

Abdul Wali is the leader of Jamaat ul-Ahrar (JUA), a militant faction affiliated with TTP. Under Wali's leadership, JUA has staged multiple attacks in the region targeting civilians, religious minorities, military personnel and law enforcement.

He was responsible for the killing of two Pakistani employees in the US Consulate in Peshawar in March 2016.

Mangal Bagh is the leader of Lashkar-e-Islam (LeI), a militant faction affiliated with TTP. Under his leadership, LeI operatives have attacked North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) convoys in recent years.

His group generates revenue from drug trafficking, smuggling, kidnapping and collection of "taxes" on transit trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

In September 2007, the Pakistan Government announced a reward offer of about USD 60,000 for the capture of, or information for Bagh's arrest.

According to the US State Department, each of these individuals is believed to have committed, or to pose a significant risk of committing, acts of terrorism that threaten the security of the US and its nationals.

"In addition to opposing the Pakistani military, one of TTP's stated goal is the expulsion of Coalition troops from Afghanistan. The group has demonstrated a close alliance with al-Qaeda, and, since 2008, it has also repeatedly publicly threatened to attack the US homeland," the US State Department added.

The Rewards for Justice Program is administered by the US Department of State's Diplomatic Security Service.

Since its inception in 1984, the programme has paid in excess of USD 145 million to more than 90 people who provided actionable information that helped to bring terrorists to justice or prevented acts of international terrorism worldwide.

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News Network
November 24,2025

israelsyra.jpg

Israeli forces have pushed over the Syrian frontier, erecting a checkpoint and stopping vehicles in the southwestern city of Quneitra, in yet another breach of the Arab country’s sovereignty.

The violation took place on Sunday, when the troops made their way across the border, setting up the outpost near the Ain al-Bayda junction in northern Quneitra, Syrian outlets reported.

According to the al-Ikhbariya paper, an Israeli detachment positioned itself at the junction, halting cars and conducting searches.

The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported that three Israeli military vehicles then moved further into the northern countryside, deploying between the town of Jubata al-Khashab and the villages of Ofaniya and Ain al-Bayda. The agency added that a separate Israeli unit mounted a new incursion in the central region, approaching the villages of Umm Batina and al-Ajraf.

Residents said such activities have surged in recent months, pointing to Israeli advances onto farmland, leveling of extensive forested areas, arrests, and spread of mobile checkpoints.

The Israeli regime began markedly increasing its military aggression against Syria last year.

The escalation coincided with increasingly ferocious onslaughts throughout the country by the so-called Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) Takfiri terrorist group, which the government of President Bashar al-Assad had confined to northwestern Syria. The HTS, however, managed to overthrow the government as the Israeli attacks would pummel the country’s civilian and defensive infrastructure.

Various reports have shown that, during the escalation, the regime conducted more than 1,000 airstrikes on the Syrian territory and over 400 ground raids into the south.

Following the collapse of the Assad government, Tel Aviv also widened its grip over the occupied Golan Heights by taking control of a demilitarized buffer zone, in defiance of a 1974 Disengagement Agreement. Earlier this month, senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, visited the buffer zone, prompting expressions of alarm on the part of the United Nations.

The United States, the regime’s biggest ally, has, meanwhile, been fraternizing the HTS head Abu Mohammed al-Jolani amid the widely reported prospect of rapprochement with Tel Aviv.

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News Network
December 7,2025

Mangaluru, Dec 7: A 34-year-old fruit and vegetable trader in Mangaluru has reportedly lost ₹33.1 lakh after falling victim to an online investment scam run through a fake mobile app.

Police said the scam began in September, when the victim received a link on Facebook. Clicking it connected him to a WhatsApp number, where an unidentified person introduced a high-return investment scheme and instructed him to download an app.

To build trust, the fraudster asked him to invest ₹30,000 on September 24. The trader soon received ₹34,000 as “profit,” convincing him the scheme was genuine. Over the next two months, he transferred money in multiple instalments via Google Pay and IMPS to different scanner codes and bank accounts shared by the scammers. Between September 24 and December 3, he ended up sending a total of ₹33.1 lakh.

When he later requested a refund of his investment and promised returns, the scammers demanded additional payments, claiming he needed to pay a “service tax” first. Even after he paid a small amount, no money was returned, and the scammers continued pressuring him for more.

A case has been registered at the CEN Crime Police Station.

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News Network
December 5,2025

Mangaluru: In a significant step to curb online hate and intimidation, Mangaluru City Police have registered a suo motu case against multiple Instagram accounts accused of circulating alleged provocative and threatening content.

While monitoring social media activity on Tuesday, Kankanady Town PSI Anitha Nikkam identified the Instagram handle ‘team_targetttt_900’ for posting a hate message alongside images of lethal weapons. Another account, ‘team_nagara_900’, allegedly shared a threatening post targeting activist Bharath Kumdelu, tagging additional pages such as KARAVALI-OFFICIAL.

Several other accounts — including ‘immu_bhai.fan’, ‘target_boy_900’, ‘kings_of_manglore’, ‘team_target_boys.900’, ‘arshad_mangalore’, ‘target_ka19_ullal’, ‘team_target__’, ‘troll_tigersz_900’, ‘tr_group_900’, and ‘team_target_900’ — are also under scrutiny for spreading similar inflammatory material, police said.

Authorities have urged citizens, especially young social media users, to report suspicious pages and avoid engaging with groups that glorify violence or threaten individuals. Online hate can quickly escalate into real-world harm, and police stress that sharing or promoting such content can attract legal consequences.

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