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BAGRAM, Afghanistan (AP) - Al-Qaida and Taliban supporters in Afghanistan are offering rewards of up to 100,000 for capturing or killing Westerners, U.S. Army officials said Friday.
Pamphlets slipped under people's doors during the night promise 50,000 for any Westerner delivered dead, and double that for people taken alive, said Maj. Iris Hurd, an officer with the Army's Information Operations division.
The pamphlets, known in Afghanistan as "night letters," also threaten Afghans with violence if they support the coalition troops or the interim administration of Hamid Karzai, Hurd said.
Hurd would not show any of the pamphlets, but said coalition forces had some in hand. She would not elaborate on whether they contained information about how the rewards were to be collected.
A set of pamphlets circulating last month among Afghan refugees in Pakistan and in Afghanistan denounced Karzai's interim government as "traitors to Islam" and warned that those who fight alongside the Americans will someday "suffer the consequences."
Hurd said last month's pamphlets include allegations that Americans used chemical and biological weapons to kill thousands of people in last year's bombing campaign against the Taliban and the al-Qaida network. Others include stories of personal sacrifice and "miracles" in the battle against the U.S.-led coalition - all apparently designed to inspire young Afghan males to take up the fight and to drive home the message that God is on the Taliban side.
Afghan forces have rounded up hundreds of suspected anti-government militants in recent days in Kabul, accused by officials of plotting to overthrow the government and also planning attacks on foreigners. Scores have been released, but 160 remain under arrest, Afghan officials have said.
PHOTO CAPTION:
PFC Raul Renteria, of El Paso, Texas, cleans his weapon at Bagram Air Base Thursday April 4, 2002. Renteria is one of many 10th Mountain Division troops expected to return home in the coming week. (AP Photo/Greg Baker)
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