US Names Target Groups

WASHINGTON, Tuesday - US President George W. Bush has issued an executive order freezing the assets of groups, individuals and charitable organisations linked to terrorism. Atop the list is the al-Qaeda network led by bin Laden, the prime suspect in the attacks on Washington and New York on September 11. Herewith are brief descriptions of the 11 groups whose assets have been frozen: Al-Qaeda (the Base): Prime suspect in the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, also suspected in 1998 bombings of US embassies in Africa and October 2000 attack on USS Cole. An umbrella organisation for a worldwide network of Islamist extremist groups, al-Qaeda was established in the late 1980s by bin Laden. It brought together Arabs who fought in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union, financing, recruiting and training Sunni Islamic extremists for the Afghan resistance. Its goal is to establish a wide-ranging Islamic network of states by overthrowing regimes deemed “non-Islamic,” expelling Westerners and non-Muslims from Muslim countries. In February 1998 al-Qaeda issued a fatwa proclaiming it is the duty of all Muslims to kill US citizens — civilian or military — and their allies everywhere. Thousands of its members have trained in camps in Afghanistan funded in part by bin Laden and extends to more than 60 countries, including the US. Al-Jihad: Egyptian Islamic Jihad, Jihad Group, Islamic Jihad: Egyptian Islamic extremist group with several hundred hard-core members active since the late 1970s seeking to overthrow Egyptian government and replace it with an Islamic state. Responsible for 1981 assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. Named by President Bush as close partner with bin Laden, al-Jihad has suffered setbacks because of arrests worldwide of top operatives. Its network extends to Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sudan, Lebanon and Britain. Cairo claims al-Jihad is funded by Iran and bin Laden. Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU): Coalition of thousands of Islamic militants from Uzbekistan and other Central Asian nations including Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan fighting to establish Islamic state in Uzbekistan. IMU is linked to bin Laden. Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG): Tiny, radical Islamist separatist group operating in the southern Philippines, reputedly Asia’s most deadly kidnap-for-ransom group. ASG is led by Khadafi Janjalani in its quest to promote an independent Islamic state in western Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago. The group allegedly received funding from bin Laden. Funded in part by Islamic extremists in the Middle East and south Asia. Now holding two Americans and 16 Filipinos hostage. Armed Islamic Group (GIA): The GIA took up a key role in Islamic extremist insurgency in Algeria in 1992 after the army voided the victory of the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) — the largest Islamic opposition party — in the first round of general elections in1991. Particularly between 1992 and 1998, the GIA conducted a brutal campaign of massacres, wiping out entire villages. It also killed more than 100 expatriate workers in Algeria. In 1999, several GIA members were convicted by a French court for conducting a series of bombings in France in 1995. Ruthless compared with the now disbanded armed wing of the FIS, the Islamic Salvation Army (AIS), the GIA targets civilians it holds to be in breach of its Islamic precepts. Salafist Group for Preaching (or Call) and Combat (GSPC): The Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), led by Hassan Hattab, 32, has eclipsed the GIA since it emerged as a splinter group in 1998. Regarded as the most effective fundamentalist guerrilla movement in Algeria, it rejected Bouteflika’s 1999 offer of amnesty to Islamists, but has limited attacks on civilians. Algiers has accused Iran and Sudan of funding GSPC. Harakat ul-Mujahidin (HUM): Harakat al-Ansar: Pakistan-based HUM is an Islamic militant group battling Indian rule in Kashmir. It operates training camps in eastern Afghanistan and has signed on to the February 1998 fatwa called by bin Laden. HUM’s thousands of supporters are in southern Kashmir and Pakistan many of whom are Arab and Afghan veterans of the Afghan war. HUM is funded in part by Saudi Arabia and other Gulf and Islamic states. Islamic Army of Aden: Aden-Abyan Islamic Army: The Yemen-based Islamic Army of Aden is made up of a handful of die-hard militants including veterans of the Afghan war. The radical Islamic group was one of three organisations to claim responsibility for the October 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, for which bin Laden is also a suspect. Its leader, Abu Bakr al-Mehdar, alias Abul Hassan, was executed after the 1998 abduction of 16 Westerners. He met bin Laden while volunteering to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan. Al-Itihaad al-Islamiya (AIAI) of Somalia: An armed, quasi-clandestine fundamentalist organisation formed in the early 1990s to set up a hardline Islamic state in Somalia. Al-Itihaad al-Islamiya (Unity of Islam), took up arms in an earlier phase of its struggle, and has been labelled by some of its detractors as a terrorist organisation, a charge that has yet to be publicly proven. AIAI is known to have had coastal training camps at Ras Kamboni, south of Kismayo, close to the Kenyan border, and at Las Quoay, near port Bosasso. Asbat al-Ansar: A Palestinian group based in Lebanon, Asbat al-Ansar led by Abou Mahjan, also known as Abdel Karim as-Saadi, sentenced to death in absentia for the murder of rival Sunni clerics. Libyan Islamic Fighting Group: A militant Islamic group opposed to the rule of Libyan leader Colonel Gadaffi. AFP Ends