The United States is offering rewards for two suspects in the terrorist bombings in the Indonesian resort of Bali three years ago that killed more than 200 people. Both are said to be members of the regional Islamic militant group Jemaah Islamiyah.
The posting of the rewards by the State Department came only a few days after a second round of terrorist attacks aimed against tourist sites in Bali.
But officials say the timing is coincidental, and that Thursday's reward announcement follows painstaking detective work and consultations on the initial attacks.
The State Department is offering a $10 million reward, one of the biggest ever posted in the 21-year history of its rewards program, for one of the alleged masterminds of the 2002 attacks, who goes by the single name Dulmatin.
A statement issued here identified Dulmatin as an electronics specialist who trained at al-Qaida terrorist camps in Afghanistan, and said he is a senior figure in Jemaah Islamiyah.
A $1 million reward is being offered for the other suspect, Umar Patek, who the statement said served as the assistant for the field coordinator of the bombings, which targeted several crowded tourist nightclubs.
The nationalities of the two men were not given.
The posting of the rewards came only one week short of the third anniversary of the Bali attacks, which occurred on October 12, 2002.
At a news briefing State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack said several factors contributed to the lag in the rewards announcement.
"This is a process that takes some time," said Mr. McCormack. "You want to identify the people involved in these acts. You want to be able to insure that if in fact they are caught they can be brought to justice, and that requires a bit of time, collection of information and coordination among various parts of the government."
The State Department announcement said the United States is determined to bring the two men to justice for their crimes.
It said anyone with information on their whereabouts should contact any U.S. diplomatic mission or any American military commander, or reach the staff of the State Department's Rewards for Justice program directly by telephone or e-mail.
Since its inception in 1984, the Rewards for Justice Program has paid out more than 62 million dollars to more than 40 persons who provided credible information resulting in the capture or death of terrorists, or the prevention acts of international terrorism.
The State Department said most recently, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice authorized a five million dollar payment to an informant for the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation who provided assistance in the arrest and conviction of several leaders of an un-named terrorist group.
The latest Bali attacks, on October 2, killed more than 20 people and were carried out by three suicide bombers who targeted restaurants not far from the nightclubs attacked in 2002.
Officials believe the aim was to further harm the Bali tourist industry, which had not fully recovered from the earlier bombings.
State Department Rewards for Justice Program
mail@rewardsforjustice.net or (1) 1-800-877-3927