U.S. offers bounty for info about two extremists in Afghanistan

The United States is offering rewards of up to 5 million dollars for information on two associates of the Afghan extremist group Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin ( HIG), the State Department said on Thursday.

Secretary of State John Kerry has authorized rewards of up to 3 million dollars for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Abdul Saboor and up to 2 million dollars for information on Abdullah Nowbahar, the State Department said in a statement.

Abdul Saboor is an explosives expert associated with HIG who is responsible for an attack in Afghan capital Kabul on May 16, 2013. The attack killed two American soldiers, four U.S. civilian contractors, and eight Afghans -- including two children, and wounded at least 37 others, according the statement.

Saboor and explosives expert Nowbahar were key participants in an attack against a bus carrying foreign employees on Sept. 18, 2012. More than a dozen people were killed and nearly a dozen more were injured in the attack.

HIG is an offshoot of Hezb-e Islami, or "Party of Islam", a political and paramilitary organization in Afghanistan founded in 1976 by Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. The group has espoused virulently anti-U.S. ideologies, and supports making Afghanistan an Islamic state rooted in Islamic law. Endite