Yemeni al-Qaeda Issues Bounties on US Ambassador, Soldiers

Audio Recording Offers 3 kg of Gold for Killing Envoy

In an audio recording released over the weekend, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has offered bounties to anyone who kills US Ambassador Gerald Feierstein and any US soldiers deployed inside Yemen.

The group says the bounties are good for six months, and are three kilograms of gold for Feierstein and $23,000 for any American soldier killed while inside Yemen.

The exact details of the US deployment to Yemen are unclear. The Pentagon admitted to US troops being attacked in Aden in March, the first time they’d even admitted troops were in Yemen at all. Since then special forces have deployed in “advisory” roles.

The US embassy has yet to comment on the bounties, but has repeatedly labeled AQAP as the “most dangerous” al-Qaeda auxiliary in the world.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.