The United States has issued a statement adding the Group to Support Islam and Muslims on its list of “foreign terrorist organisations”.
The move against the GSIM, which is a fusion of three Malian jihadist groups allied to al-Qaeda, is intended to deny the organisation resources to carry out any terror attacks.
The US State Department said that any property owned by GSIM in the US would be blocked and further prohibited any US citizens from dealing with the group.
According to the statement, the GSIM is alleged to have described itself as al-Qaeda’s official branch in Mali, and claimed responsibility for a series of attacks, including the March attacks in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, which killed eight people.
“Al-Qaeda and its affiliates like (GSIM) remain deadly threats to the United States and our allies,” said ambassador Nathan Sales, the State Department’s coordinator for counterterrorism.
The group’s leader, Malian jihadist Iyad Ag Ghaly, has already been named a “global terrorist” by the US.
