US, UN declare Ilyas Kashmiri's HuJI 'terrorist group' terrorist - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

The United States and the United Nations (UN) have declared dreaded terrorist Ilyas Kashmiri a 'Specially Designated Global Terrorist', while declaring his militant group- Harakatul Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI) as a 'foreign terrorist organisation'. A statement issued by the US Treasury Department said that any of Kashmiri's assets in the US jurisdiction have been frozen and that the move would also "prohibit US persons from engaging in any transactions with him," The Daily Times reports. The department cited US officials, as saying that Kashmiri "provides support to Al Qaeda's operations, including logistical support for terrorist attacks." Confirming the proscription of the HuJI, US under-secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, Stuart Levey, described the step as an important one in the fight against the threat posed by Al-Qaeda and its affiliates across the world. "In acting together, the US and UN are today taking another important step in combating the threat that al Qaeda and its affiliated organisations pose to innocent people around the world," Levey said. Kashmiri, who heads the HuJI's '313 brigade' was recently named by LeT operative David Coleman Headley, who is currently in detention in Chicago, in connection with the November 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. Kashmiri, who carries a 600,000 dollar bounty in Pakistan , is wanted in the country for masterminding several terror attacks, including the one of the Marriot Hotel in which over 50 persons were killed. He also made an attempt to assassinate former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf.