KUWAITI NAMED TERRORIST FINANCIER

WASHINGTON [MENL] -- The United States has named a Kuwaiti national as a terrorist financier.

The federal government has determined that Muhsin Al Fadhli was a leading supporter of Al Qaida and its commander in Iraq, Abu Mussib Al Zarqawi. The Treasury Department said the Kuwaiti national helped finance the Zarqawi network in Iraq as well as other Al Qaida operations in the region.

The 23-year-old Al Fadhli was reported as having fought with Al Qaida forces in Afghanistan and Chechnya. Treasury said he financed the October 2002 attack on the French oil tanker MV Limburg in Yemen.

The United States plans to win support to include Al Fadhli on the United Nations' 1267 Sanctions Committee list of operatives connected to Al Qaida, Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban. Such a move would require all UN member nations to freeze Al Fadhli's assets and prevent him from traveling.