The United States has offered rewards of up to $5 million each for information leading to the location of top two leaders of Pakistan-based Tehrik-e-Taliban (TTP) Hakimullah Mehsud and Wali Ur Rehman.
The announcement came soon after the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) and its chief Hakimullah Mehsud and his deputy Wali Ur Rehman were declared as foreign terrorist outfits by secretary of state Hillary Clinton and arrest warrants issued against them by the justice department.
"Under their direction, the terrorist organisation Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, launched a suicide bombing at a US military base in Afghanistan, attacked the US consulate in Peshawar, Pakistan, and planned the failed bombing in New York City's Time Square," said Robert Hartung, assistant director of the threat investigations and analysis directorate in the bureau of diplomatic security.
"In Southern Asia, Mehsud and Rehman have planned and organised the killing of citizens from both the United States and Pakistan," he told reporters at a special news conference.
"These individuals are dedicated terrorists, and they are attempting to extend their bloody reach into the American homeland. They are a danger to the interests of the United States, to its facilities and its citizens," he said.
"For that reason, we urge anyone with information on the whereabouts of Mehsud or Rehman to contact the rewards for justice program, a US embassy or US consulate or a US military commander immediately," Hartung said.
In a statement later, the state department said Mehsud since becoming leader of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan in August 2009, has organised and directed several TTP attacks against US personnel and interests in and beyond the region.
He has been charged in a federal court with conspiracy to murder an US national while outside of America and with conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction against a US national while outside of the United States.
The charges stem from an FBI investigation into the December 30, 2009 suicide bomb attack on Forward Operating Base Chapman in Afghanistan that left seven US citizens dead.
In April 2010, Mehsud's operatives used an explosives-laden truck, machine guns and rocket launchers in an attack on the US consulate in Peshawar that killed six Pakistanis and wounded 20 others.
On May 1, this year Pakistan-born naturalised US citizen Faisal Shahzad trained by the TTP unsuccessfully attempted to detonate a vehicle bomb in Times Square.
A day after that attack, the group released a video claiming responsibility for the attempted bombing.
On May 3, Mehsud appeared in another video message warning that the TTP would launch more attacks inside the United States, it said. Also known as Hakeemullah Mehsud, he was born in the Kotkai region of South Waziristan and is believed to be in his early 30s.
Wali Ur Rehman is reportedly Mehsud's one-time rival and current second-in-command. He is the TTP's chief military strategist and commands TTP members in Pakistan's South Waziristan region.
Rehman reportedly has led several attacks against US, NATO and Pakistani forces on either side of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
He has aggressively recruited new fighters into the TTP terrorist network.
Like Mehsud, he was born in South Waziristan and is said to be in his early 40s. The TTP's second-in-command is believed to be living in South Waziristan.
"Both men are believed to have committed, or pose a significant risk of committing, acts of terrorism that threaten the security of the United States and its nationals," it said.
