U.S. blocks assets for al Qaida group

The U.S. government Thursday instructed American banks to block any assets of a Kurdish Islamic organization it believes has links to both al Qaida and Iraq’s intelligence services. Under the designation, the United States will submit the organization to the United Nations for its own sanctions committee for organizations and groups associated with Osama bin Laden’s al Qaida organization. “Ansar al-Islam, which operates in northeastern Iraq, has close links to and support from al Qaida,” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said. Earlier this month, Secretary of State Colin Powell told the United Nations that a senior Iraqi intelligence official has embedded into the organization. These comments came as part of Powell’s 90-minute presentation on Iraq’s links to terrorism and evasion of U.N. weapons inspections. The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, which controls the territory from where Ansar al-Islam operates, welcomed the U.S. decision Thursday. “This is a very positive step. We hope to be in cooperation with the U.S. government to fully eliminate this group from our territory,” the PUK’s deputy representative in Washington, Qubad Talabani, told United Press International on Thursday. Full Story