Washington, sep 02, 2010 :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 Tehreek-e-Taliban Hakimullah Mehsud and Wali Ur Rehman.

The announcement came soon after the Pakistani Taliban 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, or TTP, launched a suicide bombing at a US military base in Afghanistan, attacked the U.S. 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, Mr. Mehsud and Mr. 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 Mr. Mehsud or Mr. Rehman to contact the rewards for Justice Program, a U.S .Embassy or U.S. Consulate or a U.S .military commander immediately,” Mr. 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 U.S. national while outside of America and with conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction against a U.S. 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.

On May 1, this year Pakistan-born naturalised U.S. 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.