US sanctions Qaeda supporters

Washington: The US imposed sanctions on two Al Qaeda supporters and added militants to its lists of terrorists.

The Treasury Department sanctioned Abd al-Rahman bin Umayr Nuaymi in Qatar and Abd al-Wahhab Muhammad Abd al-Rahman Humayqani in Yemen by naming them as specially designated global terrorists.

Nuaymi is a suspected terrorist financier and facilitator who allegedly has provided money and support and conveyed communications to Al Qaeda and its affiliates in Syria, Iraq, Somalia and Yemen for more than a decade.

Humayqani allegedly used his position as head of a Yemen-based charity to raise money, including funds sent to the group Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

He also is accused of facilitating financial transfers from Al Qaeda supporters in Saudi Arabia to Yemen.

The Treasury action freezes any assets the two individuals might have under US jurisdiction and prohibits Americans from doing business with them.

The State Department designated as a global terrorist Usamah Amin al-Shibabi, an associate of a militant group in Lebanon that has called for Islamist law to be instituted in the Palestinian refugee camps and for the destruction of Israel.

Also designated was the militant group called al-Mulathamun Battalion, which became a separate organisation in late 2012 after its leader split with Al Qaeda.

The State Department designations bar anyone from providing support or resources to the two designees.