Islamabad, Pakistan ? Pakistan published photos Wednesday in newspapers across the country of six terror suspects — including a senior al-Qaida operative — it says were behind attempts to assassinate the nation’s president and offered a large reward for their capture.

The identities of the men highlighted the chilling nexus between several homegrown Pakistani militant groups and Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network. The government says al-Qaida had a hand in two December assassination attempts against President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, as well as a July attempt against prime minister-designate Shaukat Aziz.

Musharraf identified the main suspect as Abu Faraj al-Libbi, a Libyan national. The government had never published a photo of him until Wednesday.

Al-Libbi appears in the photo as a dapper looking man with a short beard. He is wearing a Western suit and tie in the photograph, above a 20 million rupee reward offer, or $344,800.

The other suspects, all identified as Pakistan’s “Most Wanted Terrorists,” are Mati-ur Rehman, Amjad Hussain, Qari Ehsan, Omar Aqdas, and Mansoor — whose alias is Chota Ibrahim. All are Pakistani and known to be linked with Pakistan’s Lashkar-e-Jhangvi militant group.

It was not clear exactly what the other five men are wanted for or what role — if any — they had in the assassination attempts.

The advertisements promised anonymity for any informants and gave phone numbers and e-mail addresses to contact authorities. Some posters were printed in English and some in Urdu, Pakistan’s other official language.

Hussain, who is best known as Amjad Hussain Farooqi, is also wanted for his part in the 2002 kidnapping and beheading of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. In some accounts, Hussain recruited three Yemenis for the task and supervised it. In others, he carried out the butchery himself.

An advertisement of Pakistan's six most wanted terrorists, as published in a newspaper, is displayed at a newspaper stand in Islamabad, Pakistan. Pakistan on Wednesday published photos of the six terror suspects, including a top al-Qaida operative accused of masterminding two attempts to assassinate the president, and offered rewards for information leading to their arrests.

Hussain is also believed linked to al-Qaida’s former No. 3, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the accused mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks who was arrested in Pakistan in March 2003, and to two Pakistani militant groups — Lashkar-e-Jangvi and Jaish-e-Mohammed. The reward for Hussain is identical to that for Al-Libbi.

“Al-Libbi and Farooqi were the masterminds of the attacks against Musharraf,” Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said.

Musharraf was not hurt in either attack, but 17 people died in the second attempt on his life, when terrorists tried to blow up his motorcade on a road near the capital, Islamabad.

Musharraf has earned the ire of extremists because of his support for the U.S.-led war on terrorism.

Pakistan has arrested more than 550 al-Qaida suspects, turning most over to the United States.