September 6, 2003	Saturday	Rajab 8, 1424

PHUKET (Thailand), Sept 5: The United States said on Friday it had moved to freeze the assets of 10 suspected members of the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) militant network, a group blamed for last year’s Bali bomb attack and believed to have links to the Al Qaeda network.

“Today’s action identifies 10 individuals at the heart of the JI network. These terrorists have worked to achieve Al Qaeda’s terrorist goals in Southeast Asia,” US Treasury Secretary John Snow said at the end of an Asia-Pacific finance ministers meeting in Thailand.

The United States was sending the names to the United Nations and, if it has no objections, all member states will be required to take similar actions.

The US action immediately freezes all assets belonging to the 10 people, who come from several countries in Southeast Asia.

The region is the base of operations of the Jemaah Islamiah network blamed for October’s Bali bombing that killed 202 people and an attack on the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta last month.

The Treasury department said it expected to announce later that it had added a further 10 suspected members of Jemaah Islamiah to the list.

Sources said the second group of 10 were all believed to be of Malaysian origin.

Since Sept 11, 2001, the United States and its allies have designated 305 individuals and entities as terrorists and supporters of terrorism, and have frozen more than 136.7 million dollars worldwide, Treasury said.

Counter-terrorism experts say that sum falls far short of the amount of funds believed to be accessible to militants with plans to execute violent attacks.

—Reuters