THE US IS OFFERING a $10 million bounty for the man believed to have masterminded the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai in which at least 166 people, including six Americans, were killed.

Rewards for Justice, which is sponsored by the US State Department, has listed a $10 million reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Pakistani citizen Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, 61.

Saeed is also believed to have founded a radical Islamist organisation “dedicated to installing Islamist rule over parts of India and Pakistan”, according to the Rewards for Justice appeal.

Meanwhile, India has requested that Interpol issue an alert saying that Saeed (or ‘Sayed’ as he is listed by Interpol) is wanted for a number of offences including terrorism, kidnapping and crimes involving the use of weapons/explosives.

Al Jazeera reports that the Rewards for Justice programme has also issued a reward for Saeed’s brother-in-law Hafiz Abdul Rehman Makki. The scheme says he is part of Saeed’s radical organisation which was behind the Mumbai attacks.  Speaking to Al Jazeera, Makki claimed the US had issued the reward because he has organised rallies against Pakistan reopening supply lines to NATO forces stationed in Afghanistan.

In February 2011, Mumbai’s High Court upheld the death penalty sentence handed down to the sole surviving attacker from the Mumbai 2008 assault. Pakistani citizen Mohammad Ajmal Amir Qasab was sentenced to death by hanging after he was found guilty of over 80 offences including murder, waging war on India and terrorism charges.

The other nine people involved in the attacks were killed during the assaults on hotels, a restaurant, a Jewish centre and the city’s main railway station.