US: Federal officials yesterday announced the indictment of the head of a US Muslim charity, charging he used donations to fund terrorism around the world.
Syrian-born Enaam Arnaout, who has been in custody since last April, engaged in a "multinational criminal enterprise that for a decade used charitable contributions of innocent Americans - Muslims, non-Muslims and corporations alike - to support al-Qaeda" as well as turmoil in Chechnya and "armed violence in Bosnia," the Justice Department said.
The indictment, announced by Attorney General John Ashcroft at a Chicago news conference, largely repeated charges made against Mr Arnaout in documents released at the time of his arrest earlier this year.
He had previously been charged only with lying in a court document his foundation filed challenging the seizure of its assets in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.
At the time, the foundation said it was a "faith-based humanitarian organisation that engages in charitable work around the world" and "does not engage in or fund terrorist activity."
At the time of his arrest, the Justice Department and the FBI said the foundation, based in the Chicago area, was "engaged in the support of various persons and groups involved in military and terrorist type activity," including al-Qaeda, the Osama bin Laden group blamed for the attacks on New York and Washington. Yesterday's indictment alleges he engaged in racketeering and other illegal activities to fraudulently obtain charitable donations.
Meanwhile, Kuwait was yesterday rounding up groups suspected of assisting two Kuwaiti "terrorist" gunmen who killed a US marine and wounded another in an attack during military exercises. The US Navy said it had not decided whether to continue the Eager Mace 2002 war games on and around Failaka, a Kuwaiti island 20 kms east of Kuwait City where the incident took place.
As newspapers claimed links between the gunmen and al-Qaeda, the minister for foreign affairs, Sheikh Mohammad Sabah al-Sabah, said Kuwait, Washington's closest ally in the Gulf, was "taking the appropriate steps to round up those who we think provided some assistance to the terrorists."
"There are groups which have been brought in for questioning and groups which we think supported these terrorists.
"Therefore we are taking all necessary steps to safeguard the interests of Kuwait," he said.
Sheikh Mohammad said there were "numerous" people in custody. The minister said US forces were in Kuwait for one reason: "To protect Kuwait's security and to participate [in exercises] with Kuwaiti armed forces. For these [US] forces to be attacked, we consider this an attack against Kuwait's national interests."
Two Kuwaitis, Anas Ahmad Ibrahim al-Kandari (21), and Jassem Hamad Mubarak al-Hajeri (26), were killed on Tuesday after firing on US marines conducting an urban assault exercise. One marine was killed and another wounded.
A U.S. soldier fired a single bullet yesterday at a car in Kuwait, apparently believing he was under threat as troops moved to a desert training area near the Iraq border. - (Reuters and AFP)