December 4, 2007 Treasury Designates AQIM Emir Washington, DC--The U.S. Department of the Treasury today designated Abdelmalek Droukdel (Droukdel), the leader or emir of Al Qaida in the Lands of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). AQIM, a violent extremist group based in Algeria, merged with al Qaida in September 2006. "As emir of AQIM, Droukdel has supervised and ordered deadly terrorist attacks against innocents," said Adam J. Szubin, Director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). "We will continue efforts to dismantle AQIM's financial infrastructure and financially isolate its members." As a result of the merger with Al Qaida, AQIM, formerly known as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), changed its name to AQIM. Droukdel assumed leadership of AQIM in mid-2004. Today's action was taken pursuant to Executive Order 13224, which targets the financial networks of terrorist groups and their facilitators. As a result of the designation, any assets Droukdel may have under U.S. jurisdiction are frozen, and U.S. persons are prohibited from doing business with Droukdel. Droukdel reportedly supervised the April 2007 AQIM bombings of the Prime Minister's office and police facilities in Algiers, killing 33. Droukdel used an April 2007 Internet video addressing these bombings as a vehicle to urge his followers to become suicide bombers. He also ordered the December 2006 attack on a U.S. company's bus in Algiers that killed one and wounded nine, including a U.S. citizen. Further, Droukdel ordered the March 2006 assassination of a former AQIM leader who had surrendered to Algerian authorities. In a May 2007 video announcement, Droukdel publicly called on regional AQIM commanders to seek recruits and select targets for suicide bombings. Speaking on behalf of AQIM, Droukdel has announced AQIM's formal allegiance to al Qaida, encouraging other jihadist movements to join al Qaida, and reaffirmed allegiance to Usama bin Laden (UBL). Droukdel publicly announced GSPC's name change to Al Qaida in the Lands of the Islamic Maghreb, and stated AQIM's decision in May 2007 to use "future martyrdom operations." Droukdel in 2006 stated that he had consulted with al Qaida second-in-command and Specially Designated Global Terrorist Ayman al-Zawahiri regarding AQIM's upcoming plans and missions in Algeria and the Maghreb countries. GSPC was one of the fifteen entities originally named as an SDGT pursuant to E.O. 13224 on September 23, 2001 and was added to the UN's consolidated list of individuals and entities associated with UBL, al Qaida and the Taliban on October 6, 2001. Identifying Information AKAs: Abdelmalek Droukdal |
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