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| Africa North | |
| US Treasury moves against leader of militant group in Algeria | |
| 2007-12-05 | |
| The United States on Tuesday imposed financial sanctions on the leader of a militant group based in Algeria. The Treasury Department's action is against Abdelmalek Droukdel, identified as the leader of al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa, which has carried out deadly bombings. Any bank accounts or other financial assets found in the United States belonging to Droukdel must be frozen. Americans also are forbidden from doing business with him. "Droukdel has supervised and ordered deadly terrorist attacks against innocents," said Adam Szubin, director of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which administers and enforces the government's financial sanctions programs. Treasury alleged that Droukdel supervised bombings in April of the prime minister's office and police facilities in Algiers. Droukdel used an Internet video that talked about the bombings and urged people to become suicide bombers, the department said. The government alleged he ordered the Dec. 2006 attack on a U.S. company's bus in Algiers that killed one person and wounded others. The government also alleged Droukdel ordered the March 2006 assassination of a former leader of the group who had surrendered to Algerian authorities. The government says Droukdel assumed leadership of al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa in the middle of 2004.
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| Posted by:Fred |