Kuwaiti Citizen Accused of Terror Ties, Assets Frozen by US Treasury Department

The US Treasury Department has ordered banks to freeze the assets of Muhsin al-Fadhli, a Kuwaiti citizen, accusing him of helping to finance the Iraqi insurgency and al-Qaeda terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Kuwaiti authorities have been hunting for al-Fahdli for months.

In a story Tuesday, the Kuwaiti News agency (KUNA) reported:

The United States said al-Fadhli, who was designated as a terrorist by the United States in 2003, is considered an al Qaeda leader in Gulf countries and fought alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan and against Russian forces in Chechnya.

A report in the Washington Post adds this:

The administration contends that al-Fadhli provided financial and material support to terrorist networks run by Abu Musab Zarqawi, al Qaeda's top operative in Iraq. "In an effort to solidify the support of key financial backers sponsoring attacks, al-Fadhli requested that tapes be made showing evidence of successful attacks in Iraq," the department said.