AFGHANISTAN - June 19 - Bounty Offered For UK Marines.

A report in The FT says: "[UK] Royal Marines searching for the remnants of al-Qaeda and Taliban forces... have been warned that bounties for their capture or death of up to $50,000 have been placed on their heads. Intelligence officers assisting the small patrols of marines searching areas around the Afghan border with Pakistan in recent days have taken possession of notes, written in Pashtun, outlining the bounty offer. The notes, given to the marines by friendly villagers, offered a bounty of $50,000 for live coalition soldiers and $25,000 for dead ones". The bounties may have been offered by Al Qaida or Taliban members, or simply be the work of local criminals attempting to profit from the presence of foreign troops.