US designates Ansar-al-Islam as a terrorist group

WASHINGTON: The United States has designated Iraq''s Kurdish Islamic guerrilla organisation Ansar-al-Islam as a terrorist group, for its alleged linked with the al-Qaeda.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher, announcing the designation which came under an Executive Order on Thursday, said Ansar-al-Islam had close links to and support from the al-Qaeda.
He said Osama bin Laden and members of al-Qaeda network participated in the formation and funding of the group, which "provided safe haven to al-Qaeda in northeastern Iraq."
Boucher said that the US has also asked the UN Sanctions Committee to add Ansar-al-Islam''s name to its consolidated list of entities and individuals associated with the al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or Osama bin Laden whose assets UN Member States are obligated to freeze under UN Security Council resolutions.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell had earlier accused the group of harbouring al-Qaeda fugitives from Afghanistan. Powell also told the UN Security Council that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had an agent in Ansar''s top leadership.