US designates Pakistan-based Jamaat-ul-Ahrar as terrorist group

The US authorities have designated a Pakistan-based Islamist organisation, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, as a "global terrorist" organisation, the State Department announced on Wednesday.

The organisation is a splinter group of the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and is responsible for the Easter Sunday attack on a Lahore park targeting Christians in which 70 people were killed and for the killing of two US Consulate employees in Peshawar, the capital city of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, this year, the State Department said in a statement.

"The group, founded by a former TTP leader in August 2014, has staged multiple attacks in the region targeting civilians, religious minorities, military personnel, and law enforcement," the announcement said.

The designation as a "Specially Designated Global Terroristsa" means that JuA's property is frozen and people in the US are banned from having any dealings with it.

The State Department also said that Mohamed Abrinia, a member of the Europe-based Islamic State cell now under arrest by Belgian autorities was also added to the roster of global terrorists. The statement said he was responsible for the November 2015 Paris attacks and March 2016 Brussels attacks.

--IANS

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