The United States on Thursday put a leader of the Basque ETA movement detained in France on its terror list, freezing any assets he may have within US territory. Aitzol Iriondo Yarza was awaiting extradition to Spain on terrorism and murder charges, the State Department said in a statement.
As a result of Thursday's move "all property subject to US jurisdiction in which Iriondo has any interest is blocked and any assets he may have under US jurisdiction are frozen." The United States designated three leaders of the Boko Haram militant group as terrorists Thursday in a bid to stem the violence in Nigeria, which has endured a series of deadly attacks.
The three named by the State Department were Abubakar Shekau, widely believed to lead Boko Haram's main Islamist cell, Abubakar Adam Kambar and Khalid al-Barnawi. But the US stopped short of putting the group as a whole on its terror list. "In the last 18 months, Boko Haram or associated militants have killed more than 1,000 people," the State Department said in a statement, adding that Shekau was the most visible of the group's leaders.
The two other men were accused of close links to al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, which has been designated as a foreign terrorist organisation by the United States. "Iriondo's status as a long-term ETA member and his engagement in terrorist activities such as murder, bombings, recruiting, training and providing logistical support for a terrorist organisation, constitute a threat to US interests," the statement said.
"Spain and the EU have also listed Iriondo as a terrorist." The armed Basque separatist group ETA was designated a foreign terrorist organisation by the United States in 1997. It is "responsible for killing more than 800 civilians, police and military personnel, and injuring thousands of people since it formally began its campaign of violence in 1968," the State Department said.
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