Hafiz Saeed out in open a tremendous concern: US

The US today expressed "tremendous concern" that Pakistan terrorist Hafiz Saeed was out in the open.

US State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said that Washington had a reward on the Lashkar-e-Taiba chief's arrest.

"He (Hafiz Saeed) is out in the open, it is a tremendous concern to the US. We have a reward on him, for his arrest," Heather Nauert said when asked to comment on former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif's statement on the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.

"We have a very strong relationship with Prime Minister Modi’s government. We have strong people-to-people ties with the Indian State dept," the US State Department spokesperson added.

Nawaz Sharif had recently said in an interview to Pakistani newspaper The Dawn that Pakistani terrorists or "non-state actors" were responsible for the Mumbai terror attacks.

"Militant organisations are active in Pakistan. Call them non-state actors, should we allow them to cross the border and kill over 150 people in Mumbai?," the former Pakistan prime minister had said without naming Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed terrorist outfits the Let and the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JuD).

India has blamed the Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) for the 2008 attack on the city of Mumbai which claimed over 160 lives.

The US also blames LeT for the Mumbai attacks and has offered $10 million for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Hafiz Saeed.

Washington has asked Islamabad to prosecute Saeed multiple times and strongly condemned the decision to release the US-wanted terrorist from house arrest in November last year.

Last month, the US designated the Milli Muslim League (MML) as a foreign terrorist organisation, stating that banned LeT members make up the MML's leadership .