|
U.S. Adds Jihadist Yemeni Group to Terror List
[An Nahar]  The U.S. State Department on Thursday added the Yemeni Islamist group Ansar al-Sharia...a Yemeni Islamist militia which claims it is not part of al-Qaeda, even though it works about the same and for the same ends... (AAS) to its list of terror organizations, saying it is an offshoot of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula (AQAP). "AAS is simply AQAP's effort to rebrand itself, with the aim of manipulating people to join AQAP's terrorist cause," the State Department said in a statement. "The actions taken today against AAS support the U.S. effort to degrade the capabilities of its parent organization, AQAP," the statement read. "We are determined to eliminate AQAP's ability to execute violent attacks and to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat their networks," it added. Inclusion on the terror list means that Americans face "a prohibition against knowingly providing material support or resources to, or engaging in transactions with, Ansar al-Sharia," the statement said. It added that any property or assets held by the group in the United States are subject to seizure. The U.S. statement said that AAS has taken responsibility for multiple attacks against Yemeni forces, including a May 2012 suicide kaboom that killed more than 100 Yemeni soldiers. U.S. officials also blamed the group for a March 2012 series of attacks and armed assaults that killed 100 people in southern Yemen. Posted by: Fred 2012-10-05 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=353235 |