US Declares Kashmiri Groups as "Terrorist Organizations"

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, December 27, 2001

US Declares Kashmiri Groups as "Terrorist Organizations"

The United States on Wednesday declared two Kashmiri militant groups as "terrorist organizations," accusing them of conducting "numerous terrorist attacks" in India and Pakistan.

The United States on Wednesday declared two Kashmiri militant groups as "terrorist organizations," accusing them of conducting "numerous terrorist attacks" in India and Pakistan.

"Today I am taking another important step in our campaign to eliminate the scourge of terrorism. I am designating two groups, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad, as foreign terrorist organizations under U.S. Law," U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said in a statement.

He said that the September 11 terrorist attacks made it clear that the United States must use every tool at its disposal to combat terrorism.

He said the U.S. looks forward to working with India and Pakistan to shut down the two groups.

Powell made the announcement as the U.S. is trying to defuse increasing tensions between India and Pakistan which have amassed troops along their border in the past few days.

India accused the two Kashmiri groups of being responsible for a December 13 attack on the Indian parliament in which 14 people were killed, demanding that Islamabad crack down the groups.

The Pakistan government, which has condemned the attack, froze the assets of the two groups on Monday and briefly detained the leader of Jaish-e-Mohammad on Tuesday.

But Pakistan has been urging India to present evidence about the groups' involvement in the December 13 attack.