OT **** Full US List of Terrorist groups at the Bottom of this Report. Check if yours is included
(No need for me to talk about AMAT now because the stock is YoYoing itself Up the StairCase nicely)
12/7/01 ABS-CBN News
NPA, ABB, Pentagon Gang in new U.S. terror list
Three groups based in the Philippines representing different interests have been included on the United States' new list of organizations believed to have "terrorist orientation," a published report said Friday.
Named on the "terrorist exclusion list" were the New People's Army (NPA), the guerrilla arm of the Communist Party of the Philippines; the Alex Boncayao Brigade (ABB), urban hit squad of the CPP and the Pentagon Gang, which has been engaged in kidnapping activities.
Thirty-six other groups from Afghanistan, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Northern Ireland, Pakistan, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, Uganda and Yemen were also mentioned on the list.
The U.S. government wants individuals connected with any of the 39 groups denied of visas or immediately deported. State Department Spokesman Philip Reeker said the action was part of a "methodical approach to all aspects of the campaign to eliminate terrorism as a threat to our way of life."
The list was compiled jointly by the U.S. State and Justice departments under authority granted by Congress through the United States of America Patriot Act signed by President Bush last October 26 mainly as a response to the September 11 terror attacks.
Most of the groups are already on other U.S. lists of ''terrorist organizations'' and subject to financial controls, but were not specifically subject to U.S. visa restrictions.
"By designating these groups, the Secretary [of State Colin Powell] has strengthened the United States' ability to exclude supporters of terrorism from the country or to deport them if they are found within our borders,'' Reeker said in a statement.
"We will continue to expand the list as we identify and confirm additional entities that provide support to terrorists,'' he added.
The new list is a fourth U.S. government list of terrorist organizations' and adds to the confusion about what restrictions apply to which groups.
The other lists are of "foreign terrorist organizations," a Treasury Department list of 153 entities subject to tight financial controls and a State Department list of "other terrorist groups," which are not subject to legal measures.
Aside from visa restrictions and immediate deportation, the new list also excludes from the United States members or associates of the many obscure groups, charities and commercial companies whose assets were ordered frozen in an executive order issued on October 12.
Philippine groups
The ABB, known as the urban hit squad of the CPP, was formed in the mid-1980s.
It has claimed responsibility for more than 100 murders and is believed to have been involved in the 1989 murder of U.S. Army Col. James Rowe. Although reportedly decimated by a series of arrests in late 1995, it is believed to still maintain terrorist capabilities.
The NPA, the CPP's guerrilla arm, is an avowedly Maoist group formed in December 1969 with the aim of overthrowing the government through protracted guerrilla warfare. Although primarily a rural-based guerrilla group, the NPA has an active urban infrastructure to carry out terrorism; uses city-based assassination squads called sparrow units.
It reportedly derives most of its funding from contributions of supporters and so-called revolutionary taxes extorted from local businesses.
Two of the NPA's local commands claimed responsibility for at least two high-profile assassinations of politicians leading to last May's elections.
The NPA-Melito Glor Command owned up to the assassination of Quezon Rep. Marcial Punzalan while its Fortunato Camus Command claimed responsibility for the murder of Cagayan Rep. Rodolfo Aguinaldo.
The military, meanwhile, believes that the Pentagon Gang is composed of members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which has disowned them. The MILF is currently in peace talks with the Arroyo administration.
Last October, the kidnap gang freed Chinese hostage Zhang Zhongyi, who had been held for more than two months in Mindanao, to the MILF.
Shortly following the September 11 attacks, another Philippine-based organization, the bandit Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), was named by the United States on an initial list of international terrorists.
U.S. President Bush ordered the assets of ASG as well as other groups linked with the al Qaeda network of Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden frozen to cripple their activities. Bin Laden is the main suspect in the September 11 attacks.
The ASG is still holding American missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham in Basilan. The Burnhams were among those abducted from the Dos Palmas resort in Palawan last May.
Full list
The full list of groups in the "terrorist exclusion list" and their country of location are as follows:
1. al-Ittihad, al-Islami (Somalia);
2. al-Wafa, al-Igatha, al-Islamia (Afghanistan);
3. Asbat al-Ansar (Lebanon);
4. Darkazanli Company (Germany);
5. Salafist Group for Call and Combat (Algeria);
6. Islamic Army of Aden (Yemen);
7. Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (Libya);
8. Makhtab al-Khidmat (Pakistan);
9. al-Hamati Sweets Bakeries (Yemen);
10. al-Nur Honey Center (Yemen);
11. al-Rashid Trust (Pakistan);
12. al-Shifa Honey Press for Industry and Commerce (Yemen);
13. Jaysh-e-Mohammed (Pakistan);
14. Jamiat al-Ta' awun al Islamiyya (Afghanistan);
15. Alex Boncayao Brigade (Philippines);
16. Army for the Liberation of Rwanda (Rwanda);
17. First of October Antifascist Resistance Group (Spain);
18. Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (Pakistan);
19. Continuity Irish Republican Army (Northern Ireland);
20. Orange Volunteers (Northern Ireland);
21. Red Hand Defenders (Northern Ireland);
22. New People's Army (Philippines);
23. People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (South Africa);
24. Revolutionary United Front (Sierra Leone);
25. al-Ma' unah (Malaysia);
26. Jayshullah (Azerbaijan);
27. Black Star (Greece);
28. Anarchist Faction for Overthrow (Greece);
29. Red Brigades - Combatant Communist Party (Italy);
30. Revolutionary Proletarian Nucleus (Greece);
31. Turkish Hizballah (Turkey);
32. Jerusalem Warriors (Turkey);
33. Islamic Renewal and Reform Organization (Jordan);
34. The Pentagon Gang (Philippines);
35. Japanese Red Army (Japan);
36. Jamiat Ul-Mujahideen (Kashmir);
37. Harakat Ul Jihad Islami (Kashmir);
38. The Allied Democratic Forces (Uganda); and
39. The Lord's Resistance Army (Uganda);
abs-cbnNEWS.com |
