Pakistan increases bounty on Taliban chief

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, May 29 (UPI) -- Pakistan increased its bounty Friday for Taliban leader Maulana Fazlullah from $60,000 to $600,000, payable whether he is dead or alive.

The U.S. government has offered $5 million for Fazlullah, a radical Muslim cleric heading the Taliban in the Swat Valley.

Interior Secretary Syed Kamal Shah told the government-run Associated Press of Pakistan that the government wants to "accelerate the efforts" to capture or kill Fazlullah. The increase comes after bombings blamed on the Taliban in Lahore and Peshawar.

The Northwest Frontier Province government has clamped down in Peshawar, the BBC reported. Schools have been closed, driving is limited and gatherings of more than four people are banned.

Officials say that 2.5 million people in the province have been forced to leave their homes by the fighting between government security forces and the Taliban, the Press Trust of India said.