WASHINGTON, Nov. 5 (UPI) -- Qari Zakir, chief of suicide operations of the Haqqani network, was placed on the U.S. State Department's list of "Specially Designated Global Terrorist."
Under the designation ordered by the secretary of state, all property within U.S. jurisdiction in which Zakir, also known as Abdul Rauf, has any interest would be blocked and U.S. nationals prohibited from engaging in any transactions with him or to his benefit, a State Department announcement said.
The decision follows the September designation of the entire Haqqani network, blamed for a number of high-profile suicide attacks and violence in Afghanistan, as a foreign terrorist organization and as a specially designated global terrorist entity.
Zakir and the group were also listed under the United Nations' Sanctions Committee, requiring all U.N. member states to freeze the assets of the two and implement a travel ban and an arms embargo against them.
The State Department announcement said Zakir is the chief of suicide operations for the Haqqani network and the operational commander in Kabul, Takhar, Kunduz, and Baghlan provinces in Afghanistan. He was also described as being responsible for the group's training program including instruction in small arms, heavy weapons, and the making of improvised explosive devices.
The announcement said Zakir had become a trusted associate and confidant of Haqqani network leader Sirajuddin Haqqani.
The Long War Journal said Zakir, an Afghan citizen and based out of Miramshah in neighboring Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region, becomes the 10th Haqqani network leader to be designated a global terrorist. Miramshah serves as the headquarters for the group, the report said.
