WASHINGTON, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- A breakaway faction of al-Qaida tied to 2013 attacks in Algeria and Niger is designated as a terrorist entity, the U.S. State Department said Wednesday.
The State Department said it designated al-Mulathamun Battalion as a foreign terrorist organization. The designation prohibits providing material support to or working with the terrorist group.
The listing said the entity was created when al-Qaida leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar split off from al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb and created his own group in late 2012. An entity within Belmokhtar's organization, dubbed Those Who Sign in Blood, claimed responsibility for a January attack on the In Amenas gas facility in Algeria.
Three U.S. citizens were among the 38 civilians killed in the four-day siege.
The State Department said Belmokhtar's entity worked with terrorist group Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa to carry out a twin suicide bombing in Niger, which left at least 20 people dead in May.
Both groups later merged under the name al-Murabitoun, which the State Department said still poses a terrorist threat to U.S. interest in Africa.
The State Department said Those Who Sign in Blood and al-Murabitoun are considered aliases of al-Mulathamun Battalion.
