U.K. freezes new Hamas head's assets

LONDON, March 24 (UPI) -- British Chancellor Gordon Brown has ordered the Bank of England to instruct financial outfits to freeze the assets of new Hamas chief Abdel Aziz Rantisi.

Also on the list are Musa Abu Marzouk, Imad Khalil al-Alami, Usama Hamdan and Khalid Mishaal, said a statement Wednesday from Britain's Treasury.

"This action has been taken because the Treasury have reasonable grounds for suspecting that four of the individuals are, or may be, persons who facilitate or participate in the commission of acts of terrorism and one, Abdel Aziz Rantisi, is or may be a person who commits, facilitates or participates in such acts," the statement said.

Brown also instructed the Bank of England to freeze the assets of Kadek and Kongra-Gel, which the statement said were aliases of the Kurdistan Worker's Party, the Kurdish separatist group.

The asset freeze is authorized under the Terrorism (U.N. Measures) Order 2001, the statement said.