US, UN block funds tied to al Qaeda cell in Italy

WASHINGTON, Tuesday (Reuters) The United States froze the assets of three North African men who are suspected of operating a militant cell in Italy with links to al Qaeda and Moroccan extremists.

The U.S. Treasury Department said it had blocked the assets of Moroccan Ahmed El Bouhali, Tunisian Faycal Boughanemi and Moroccan Abdelkader Laagoub for providing financial or other material support to the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group, which the U.S. government says is affiliated with al Qaeda. The Treasury Department did not give any information on assets the three men hold in the United States.

In a parallel action announced at United Nations headquarters in New York, a Security Council committee, acting at Italy's request, added the names of the three men to its own list of individuals with ties to al Qaeda.

Putting the men on the U.N. list obliges all 191 U.N. member-states to freeze their finances, prohibit them from obtaining arms and prevent them from traveling.

The goal of both the U.S. and U.N. mechanisms is to deprive suspected terrorists of the money and other resources they need to carry out attacks.

Boughanemi and Laagoub are already in Italian custody, but Bouhali is not. No additional information on his status was immediately available. Italy has already frozen the assets of the three men. "Today's action targets individuals operating an al Qaeda-linked terrorist cell in Italy that recruited combatants, raised funds for terrorist activities and even planned terrorist attacks," Stuart Levey, U.S. Treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement.