Bounty placed on anti-Muslim filmmaker

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Sept. 22 (UPI) -- A Pakistani government minister Saturday offered a $100,000 bounty for the death of person behind the anti-Islam video that set off widespread violence.

Railways Minister Ghulam Ahmad Bilour called on Taliban and al-Qaida members "to take part in this noble cause," the BBC reported.

"If he is handed over to me, I will do it myself," the British network quote him as saying.

Bilour, who said he would pay the bounty himself, told reporters in Peshawar of his offer the day after nearly two dozen people died and 200 were injured in rioting in the city.

The New York Times reported a top aide to Bilour said later the minister was trying to diffuse frustration and anger in the streets in Pakistan.

The Pakistani government distanced itself from Bilour's remarks, the Times said.

"We completely dissociate ourselves from the statement of Mr. Bilour," Shafqat Jalil, press secretary to Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, said.

The Times said the target of the bounty is widely presumed to be Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, who has been linked to the video, described as a trailer for a movie titled "Innocence of Muslims."

Nakoula, 55, has not confirmed his involvement, but has been questioned by police near his Los Angeles-area home.