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WORLD NEWS Monday 16 May 2022
U.S. set to remove 5 groups from foreign terrorism blacklist

By MATTHEW LEE pass money or in-kind assis-
AP Diplomatic Writer tance, in some cases even
BERLIN (AP) — The United medical care.
States is poised to remove All but one of the five
five extremist groups, all be- groups was first designated
lieved to be defunct, from a foreign terrorist organiza-
its list of foreign terrorist or- tion in 1997 and have re-
ganizations, including sev- mained on the list for the
eral that once posed sig- past 25 years.
nificant threats, killing hun- U.S. officials familiar with
dreds if not thousands of the matter said the deci-
people across Asia, Europe sions were made only af-
and the Middle East. ter consulting lawmakers
Although the groups are in- several months ago about
active, the decision is politi- whether the latest five-year
cally sensitive for the Biden reviews should proceed.
administration and the Before now, only 15 groups
countries in which the or- have been removed from
ganizations operated, and the list.
could draw criticism from The specific reasons for
victims and their families still each the removals are in-
dealing with the losses of cluded only in classified
loved ones. sections that accompanied
The organizations include A woman shelters from the rain under an umbrella, while walking past a wall painted with portraits the notifications, which are
the Basque separatist of prisoners of the Basque separatist armed group ETA, in the small village of Hernani, northern not classified on their own.
group ETA , the Japanese Spain, May 2, 2018. Associated Press These sections are labeled
cult Aum Shinrikyo, the “SECRET/NOFORN,” which
radical Jewish group Kah- mentioned in Friday’s notifi- which by law is required ev- Secretary of the Treasury, I means their contents can
ane Kach and two Islamic cations. In separate notices ery five years. determine that the circum- only be shared among U.S.
groups that have been ac- to lawmakers, the State The reviews take into ac- stances that were the basis officials with proper clear-
tive in Israel, the Palestinian Department said the ter- count whether designat- for the designation ... have ances and not with foreign
territories and Egypt. rorism designations for the ed groups are still active, changed in such a man- governments.
The U.S. State Department five groups will be formally whether they have com- ner to warrant revocation The groups to be removed
notified Congress on Friday removed when the deter- mitted terrorist acts within of the designation,” Blinken are:
of the moves, which come minations are published in the previous five years and wrote in each notice. —Aum Shinrikyo (AUM), the
at the same time as an in- the Federal Register, which whether removal from or Removing the groups from Japanese “Supreme Truth”
creasingly divisive but unre- is expected this coming retention of the list would the list has the immedi- cult that carried out the
lated debate in Washing- week. Copies of the notifi- be in U.S. national security ate effect of rescinding a deadly sarin gas attack on
ton and elsewhere about cations, all of which were interests. range of sanctions that the the Tokyo subway in 1995
whether Iran’s paramili- signed by U.S. Secretary Under the law that creat- designations had entailed. that killed 13 people and
tary Revolutionary Guard of State Antony Blinken ed the list, the secretary of Those include asset freez- sickened hundreds more.
should or can be legally on Wednesday, were ob- state can remove groups es and travel bans as well The group has been con-
removed from the U.S. list tained by The Associated that he or she deems no as a prohibition on any sidered largely defunct
as part of efforts to salvage Press. The general reason longer to fit the criteria. Americans providing the since the executions of its
the languishing Iran nucle- for the removals is identical “Based on a review of the groups or their members top echelons, including
ar deal. in each of the cases: Blink- Administrative Record as- with any material support. leader Shoko Asahara, in
That designation, which en asserting that they were sembled in this matter and In the past the material 2018. It was designated a
was imposed by the Trump based on an administrative in consultation with the At- support provision has been foreign terrorist organiza-
administration, was not review of the designations, torney General and the broadly defined to encom- tion in 1997.q

Suicide bomber kills 6, gunmen kill 2

Sikhs in N.W. Pakistan

By RIAZ KHAN near the town of Mir Ali in gence officials were comb-
Associated Press the tribal district of North ing the area searching for
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) Waziristan. the bomber’s handlers.
— A suicide bombing near The attack killed two sol- The region has served as a
a security forces vehicle diers in the vehicle on the safe haven for local and
killed three soldiers and spot and wounded anoth- foreign militants for years.
three children in northwest er. Three children playing The military carried out a
Pakistan near the border alongside the road were massive operation after
with Afghanistan on Sun- also critically wounded. militants attacked an ar-
day, while gunmen shot All of the wounded were my-run school in Peshawar
dead two minority Sikhs in rushed to a hospital in a he- in 2014 that left over 150 Pakistani Sikh mourners gather around the body of a Sikh who
Peshawar, officials said. licopter but none survived, dead, mostly school chil- was killed by gunmen in Peshawar, Pakistan, Sunday, May 15,
A military statement said the statement said. dren. 2022.
the suicide bomber trig- There was no immediate Also on Sunday, police of- Associated Press
gered his explosives-laden claim of responsibility for ficer Ejaz Khan said gun-
vest near a vehicle on se- the attack. The military said men riding on a motor- members of the minority in the Peshawar suburb of
curity patrol in a village security forces and intelli- cycle opened fire on two Sikh community in a bazaar Sarband.q