Russia has offered US$10 million for information leading to the exposure of the murderers of the four Russian embassy workers in Iraq, a top Security Service official announced in Moscow on Friday.

 

"The Russian National Anti-Terrorist Committee will pay a reward in the amount of US$10 million for information that will lead to a result," Federal Security Service Director Nikolai Patrushev told reporters after a meeting with President Vladimir Putin.

 

Putin on Wednesday ordered Russian secret services to take all measures to "locate and destroy" those responsible for the deaths of four Russian diplomats in Iraq, the Kremlin said.

 

The Russian Foreign Ministry on Monday confirmed the death of the four diplomats who were kidnapped on June 3 in Baghdad by the Mujahedeen Shura Council, which is believed to be an umbrella organization grouping several insurgent groups in Iraq including the al-Qaida network.

 

The group announced on Sunday that it had killed the four Russian diplomats.

 

(Xinhua News Agency July 1, 2006)