WASHINGTON?More than $56 million in financial assets linked to the al Qaeda network and the Taliban have been blocked worldwide since the terror attacks on the United States, the Treasury Department said Wednesday.
The new number comes a week after the Bush administration launched a series of actions to stop the flow of funds to terrorists.
Last Wednesday, the government ordered U.S. banks to freeze the assets of an additional 62 groups and individuals, including those belonging to Al-Barakaat and Al Taqua, financial networks accused of funding Osama bin Laden’s terrorist operation.
Al-Barakaat’s offices in Boston, Minneapolis, Seattle and Columbus, Ohio, were raided by U.S. law enforcement officers last week.
To date, 120 countries have frozen the assets of entities believed to be financing or conducting terrorist activities.