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SE Asia terror funds frozen
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. government Friday froze the assets of two suspected leaders of Jemaah Islamiyah, an Islamic terrorist group operating in Southeast Asia with ties to al Qaeda. The State Department announced the action against Nurjaman Riduan Ismuddin, commonly known as Hambali, and Mohamad Iqbal Abdurrahman, commonly known as Abu Jibril. Spokesman Richard Boucher said he did not know if the two men had any assets in the United States. However, the United Nations was asked to designate the men on a terrorist list, which will obligate all U.N. member states to take similar action. Jemaah Islamiya ("Islamic Community") is a radical Islamic group linked to al Qaeda that seeks to establish an independent Muslim state encompassing south Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Muslim islands of the southern Philippines. The group originated in Indonesia but has ties and members across Southeast Asia. According to the State Department, Hambali is the group's director of operations and its chief liaison with al Qaeda leaders, and he is also suspected of being al Qaeda's operations director in East Asia. He was involved in a 1995 plot to bomb 11 U.S. commercial airlines in Asia and a foiled 2001 plan to attack Western interests in Singapore, as well a series of bombings in Indonesia and the Philippines in December 2000 that killed 40 people, the State Department said. Abu Jibril is a close associate of Hambali, serving as Jemaah Islamiya's primary recruiter and second in command, the State Department said. He was arrested by Malaysian authorities in 2001. According to the State Department, both men were involved in obtaining financing for the group. Friday's move to freeze their assets was taken under the authority of an executive order signed by U.S. President George Bush, designed to disrupt the financing of suspected terrorist groups.
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