A branch of al-Qaida has put bounties on the head of the U.S. ambassador to Yemen and any American soldiers in the country, an intelligence group monitoring Islamist websites said. According to the SITE Intelligence Group, Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula has offered more than six pounds of gold for the killing of Sanaa-based U.S. Ambassador Gerald Feierstein and more than $23,000 for the killing of any U.S. soldier in Yemen, citing an effort to "expand the circle of the jihad by the masses." The offer comes as the group, widely regarded by U.S. counterterrorism experts as the most dangerous branch of al-Qaida, has taken advantage of unrest in the region as it tries to gain a foothold amid a power vacuum.
