UPDATE 1-Member of Malian al Qaeda affiliate put on U.S. terrorism list -U.S. Treasury

The United States added a senior member of al Qaeda's affiliate in Mali to its global terrorism list on Tuesday, accusing him of engaging in destabilizing attacks across the West African country, the U.S. Treasury said.

Bah Ag Moussa, a leader of Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, was designated by the U.S. Treasury as a global terrorist and placed on a list of people whose assets in the United States can be blocked, the Treasury's Office of Foreign Asset Control said. "Treasury is targeting the leadership of JNIM, al Qaeda's branch in Mali, for its destabilizing role conducting terrorist attacks across the country," Treasury Undersecretary Sigal Mandelker said in a statement. "As a leader within JNIM, Bah Ag Moussa directly contributes to the violence and instability fueled by al Qaeda's terrorism."

The Treasury said it added Moussa to its sanctions list because he had acted on behalf of JNIM and its leader, Iyad ag Ghali. Both JNIM and Ghali were added to the sanctions list previously. Moussa, a former Malian army colonel, led an operation in March against the Malian Armed Forces base in Dioura that killed at least 21 Malian soldiers.

JNIM claimed responsibility for an attack in January that killed 10 United Nations peacekeepers from Chad. It said the attack was a response to the Chadian president's decision to revive diplomatic ties with Israel. The Treasury Department said in a statement on its website that it also added Ali Maychou, a Moroccan national active in Mali, to the sanctions list.

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