US adds Ansar Al Sharia to terror list

US authorities on Thursday added the Yemeni Islamist group “Ansar Al Sharia” to its list of foreign terrorist organisations, declaring them as a subsidiary of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The US state department also declared the group responsible of terrorist attacks on Yemeni soldiers. According to the statement, "Ansar Al Sharia", which is based in Yemen, is a separate entity from supporters of Sharia in Libya and that “the group was simply Al Qaeda’s effort to rebrand itself in order to attract new members to their terrorist activities.” Based on that, the state amended its list of terrorist organizations, and added to it "Ansar Al Sharia" in Yemen, pointing out that this procedure aimed “eliminate Al Qaeda’s ability to execute violent attacks and to freeze all their assets and interests of the organization in the United States. " Washington accused the group of "Ansar Al Sharia" of implementing “several attacks on Yemeni security forces, including a suicide attack in May 2012 in the Yemeni capital, killing more than 100 Yemeni soldiers." The US state department named Al Qaeda as a terror group in January 2010. Al Qaeda was founded in 2009 when the Saudi and Yemeni branches of the jihadist network merged. "Ansar Al Sharia" has taken over the cities in the provinces of Abyan and Shabwa, and declared it an Islamic state in 2011.