The US Treasury Department has identified a Libyan electronics and explosives specialist as a top bomb maker for Al Qaeda in Pakistan and imposed sanctions on him.

The Treasury Department says that Abd Al Hamid Al Masli, also known as Hamza Al Darnawi, runs a Al Qaeda workshop in Pakistan that provides improvised explosive devices and components for Al Qaeda to be used in Afghanistan.

The 37-year-old Libyan-born Masli works in Waziristan on Pakistan’s northwest border, where he also instructs Al Qaeda recruits on making detonators.

The designation of Al Masli as a bomb maker for Al Qaida aims at cutting his and the group’s access to financial and trade networks by banning American entities and individuals from undertaking any transactions with him.

“The US is determined to disrupt and dismantle these IED networks through all means available, including targeted sanctions,” said Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David Cohen.

Note that these types of sanctions are largely symbolic, since it is highly unlikely that a guy like Masli is using US entities to stash money or move funds around–and if he was, he almost certainly would not do so under his real name.

These types of sanctions are about making the US Treasury appear to be waging a serious financial war on Jihad but, since they largely ignore zakat and so many Islamic charities, there is no serious financial war on Jihad.

 

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