Washington, DC - The U.S. Department of State's Rewards for Justice Program is offering rewards for information on two associates of the extremist group Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin (HIG). The Secretary of State has authorized rewards of up to $3 million for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Abdul Saboor and up to $2 million for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Abdullah Nowbahar.

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

Abdul Saboor is an explosives expert associated with HIG who is responsible for the May 16, 2013 suicide vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (SVBIED) attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, which destroyed a U.S. armored vehicle. The attack killed two U.S. soldiers, four U.S. civilian contractors, and eight Afghans—including two children, and wounded at least 37 others.

Saboor and HIG explosives expert Abdullah Nowbahar were key participants in the September 18, 2012 SVBIED attack against a bus carrying foreign employees of a firm that provided aviation services to the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. More than a dozen people were killed and nearly a dozen more were injured in the attack.

More information about these individuals is located on the Rewards for Justice website at http://www.rewardsforjustice.net. We encourage anyone with information on these individuals to contact the Rewards for Justice office via the website, e-mail (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), phone (1-800-877-3927), or mail (Rewards for Justice, Washington, D.C., 20520-0303, USA). Individuals in Afghanistan may call the RFJ tip line at 0700 108 600. All information will be kept strictly confidential.

The Rewards for Justice program is administered by the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Diplomatic Security. Since its inception in 1984, the program has paid in excess of $125 million to more than 80 people who provided actionable information that put terrorists behind bars or prevented acts of international terrorism worldwide. Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Rewards4Justice.