The United States government has placed a $10million (N4.1billion) bounty on Sanaullah Ghafari, leader of the Afghanistan regional chapter of the Islamic State group.
The US State Department announced that it needed information leading to the “identification or location” of Ghafari, AFP reports.
The reward, according to the US government is for any information that would aid in arresting or convicting Ghafari and others responsible for the “terrorist attack at the Kabul airport” on August 26, 2021, which was claimed by the Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K).
ISIS-K, known as the Islamic State–Khorasan Province, operates out of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
It was the group responsible for an attack against U.S. troops and Afghan citizens at the Kabul airport during President Joe Biden’s pullout from the country last August.
The State Department identified this faction’s leader as Sanaullah Ghafari who took over in June 2020.
“Ghafari is responsible for approving all ISIS-K operations throughout Afghanistan and arranging funding to conduct operations,” the State Department said in a statement.
He had been blacklisted in November 2021 as a foreign terrorist.
Little is known about Ghafari, although his nom de guerre suggests he arrived in the region from the Arab world.
He is rumoured to have been an Al-Qaeda commander or a former member of the Haqqani network, one of the most powerful and feared factions in the Taliban.
IS-K has been responsible for some of the deadliest attacks in the region in recent years, massacring civilians in Afghanistan and Pakistan, at mosques, shrines, public squares and hospitals.
The group has especially targeted Muslims from sects it considers heretical, including Shiites — much like the original IS group.
It was hit hard by both the Taliban and US-led forces and was losing influence but its attacks have ramped up since their rival Islamists took power in August.
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