US targets individuals for operating in Mali and Afghanistan

The Obama administration on Tuesday added two persons and one group to its global terrorists list for their involvement in operations in Mali and Afghanistan respectively. The move entailed sanctions that freeze all of their assets under US jurisdiction and bars American citizens from doing business with them. The State Department described Iyad ag Ghali as the leader of Ansar al-Dine (AAD), a group operating in Mali with close ties to al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), a designated foreign terrorist organization. Ghali has AQIM's support in AAD's fight against the Malian and French forces, most notably in the capture of the Malian towns of Agulhok, Tessalit, Kidal, Gao and Timbuktu, between January and April 2012, the department said in a statement. Before the French troops intervened in January 2013, Malian citizens in towns that had been under AAD's control who did not comply with the group's laws "had faced harassment, torture or execution," the department said. It said Ghali directed a 1990 rebellion against the Malian government by the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Azawad before creating AAD in late 2011. The man is listed as well by the United Nations 1267/1989 al- Qaida Sanctions Committee, the department said. The Commander Nazir Group (CNG) was targeted for running training camps, sending suicide bombers, providing safe haven for al-Qaida fighters, and conducting cross-border operations in Afghanistan against the United States and its allies since 2006. CNG is also responsible for assassinations and intimidation operations against civilians in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the State Department said. Malang Wazir was blacklisted since he has overseen training centers and has been known to send fighters to Afghanistan to support the Taliban in his capacity as CNG's sub-commander, the agency said.