US offers reward for Philippines bombing suspect

The US government has announced a US$50,000 (€38,000) reward for information leading to the capture of a "despicable terrorist" allegedly involved in a series of deadly bomb attacks in the southern Philippines.

Filipino terror operative Abdul Basit Usman has links with the al-Qaida-allied group Jemaah Islamiyah, and had a hand in a series of recent bombings in the southern Mindanao region, including an attack in October that killed eight people, the US Embassy said Tuesday.

"It is time to bring this despicable terrorist to justice," the embassy said.

Washington has offered huge bounties for the capture of several Filipino terror operatives, most of them belonging to the Abu Sayyaf, a small but brutal group allied with al-Qaida and Jemaah Islamiyah and included on the US list of terrorist groups.

AP