BRUSSELS, May 3: The European Union on Friday blacklisted the Kashmiri Islamist group Lashkar-i-Tayyaba as a terrorist organization whose financial assets would be frozen across the 15 nation EU.

A new list of terror groups approved by the EU following the Sept 11 attacks on the US also included two Sikh groups, the Babbar Khalsa and the International Sikh Youth Foundation.

Other groups added were the PKK or the Kurdistan Workers Party which has, however, since changed its name to KADEK and also proclaimed an end to its long-standing armed struggle for independence from Turkey.

But EU diplomats voiced scepticism at the real impact of the name-change and said the list could be revised to include KADEK if needed.

The extensive EU list also includes Egypt’s largest Islamist militant group al-Gama’a al Islamia, the Turkish leftist urban guerilla organization DHKP-C and the Iranian Mujahedin-i-Khalq. But diplomats said the “terrorist” designation did not cover the National Council of Resistance of Iran, the political arm of the People’s Mujahedin.

Officials said the move was part of the EU’s effort to dry up all sources of financing for terrorist organizations as part of the post-Sept 11 global campaign against terror.

The new, revised EU list now includes 36 individuals and 23 groups accused of terrorist activity. Apart from suspected Islamist extremist groups, the EU focus is also on Latin American militants and domestic European terrorist organizations including the Basque ETA group and the Irish Republican Army.