US adds more Islamic militants to terrorism watchlist

21 May, 2002 10:28 PM3 mins to read

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Washington - The United States is showing its determination to crush even the most obscure forms of violent Islamic militancy following the September 11 attacks, adding eight groups in three continents to a watchlist in its annual report on terrorism in 2001.

The additions signalled fears of militant tentacles reaching across Africa and Asia and into Western Europe.

It also showed the complex nature of the war on terrorism launched by Washington after the airline attacks, which killed more than 3000 people in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington.

The list of "other terrorist groups" added several names whose activities were not new but which did not appear in the 2000 report before the attacks.

Collectively the new names have members as far afield as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Libya, Malaysia, Pakistan and Kashmir, the Philippines, Somalia, Turkey, Western Europe and Yemen, the report, also published on the State Department's website www.state.gov, said.

Among new additions were groups the report said sought to impose Islamic regimes, including one in Libya that claimed responsibility for an assassination attempt in 1996 against Muammar Gaddafi of Libya, whose country is listed separately in the report as a state sponsor of terrorism.

Al Jama'a al-Islamiyah al-Muqatilah bi-Libya, whose members have mostly fled to Middle Eastern and European states, sees Gaddafi's government as un-Islamic and has ties to the al Qaeda group led by Osama bin Laden, accused of masterminding the September 11 attacks, the report said.

With 2000 members and some reserve militias, al-Ittihad al-Islami has attacked Ethiopian forces and Somali factions and is believed to have launched bomb attacks in public places in 1996 and 1997 in its fight for an Islamic regime in Somalia, the report said.

Harakat ul-Jihad-I-Islami in Pakistan and Kashmir was founded in 1980 in Afghanistan to fight against Soviet forces but now attacks Indian targets in its fight for the accession of Kashmir to Pakistan and trained its members in Afghanistan until US forces attacked al Qaeda training camps last year, it said.

Harkat ul-Jihad i-Islami/Bangladesh seeks to impose an Islamic regime in Bangladesh and has several thousand members, the report said.

The Islamic Army of Aden has expressed support for bin Laden and bombed and kidnapped targets to promote its goals of overthrowing the government and launching operations against US and other Western interests in Yemen, the report said.

Kumpulan Mujahidin Malaysia seeks to build an Islamic state of Malaysia, Indonesia and the southern Philippines and to overthrow the government of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammed, it said.

The Tunisian Combatant Group wants to establish an Islamic government in Tunisia and targets Tunisian and Western interests with areas of operation in Western Europe and Afghanistan, the report said.

Turkish Hizballah arose in the late 1980s in the response to atrocities against Muslims in southeastern Turkey where the group seeks to establish an independent Islamic state, it said.

The watchlist of groups considered to be active recently is separate from a list of "foreign terrorist organisations" which is updated under US law on an ongoing basis when a threat to American interests is established, leading to visa and financial sanctions against members and supporters.

- REUTERS

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