The Treasury Department designated three senior terrorists on Thursday for their involvement with the Pakistan-based jihadist groups Lashkar-e Jhangvi (LJ) and Jaish e-Mohammed. The designations freeze any assets the three have under U.S. jurisdiction and bar Americans from engaging in financial transactions with them.
One of the three is Mati ur-Rehman, described by Treasury as a planning director of al-Qaida, was linked to an August 2006 plot to destroy British airliners flying to the United States. Rehman has also been implicated in plots targeting the U.S. consulate in Karachi, a former Pakistani president and that country's former prime minister.
Treasury also designated Amanullah Afridi, who last year became head of LJ. Afridi "has prepared suicide jackets for al Qa'ida operations, trained suicide bombers and trained the assassin" of a Pakistani cleric, a Treasury statement said. The third terrorist is Abdul Rauf Azhar, who has served as JEM's intelligence coordinator. According to Treasury, Azhar was assigned to organize suicide attacks in India and "has served as a JEM official involved with terrorist training camps."
Read more about Jaish e-Mohammed here. Read more about Lashkar-e Jhangvi here.