US targets dissidents' finances

The UK has always urged action against the groups

The US has frozen the assets of four loyalist groups and one republican paramilitary group as part of its war on terror.

Officials designated the groups as suspected terrorist organisations but said it was too early to tell if any of them have financial assets in the US.

The loyalist groups targeted were the Loyalist Volunteer Force, Orange Volunteers, Red Hand Defenders, and the Ulster Defence Association, also thought to cover sister organisation, the Ulster Freedom Fighters.

The republican Continuity IRA has also been singled out.

Paramilitary gangs

The EU imposed financial sanctions against the same groups, as well as other organisations last week.

Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble called in October for the US to crack down on the profits of paramilitary gangs in Northern Ireland.

He was spurred on by the murder of investigative journalist Martin O'Hagan who had uncovered paramilitary gangs responsible for organised crime.

And Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith has also expressed his belief that the US war on terror in the wake of 11 September should include Northern Ireland.

The five paramilitary groups were posted on the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control Web site on Monday.

International co-operation

Secretary of State Colin Powell decided on the list in consultation with Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill and Attorney General John Ashcroft.

State Department spokesman Philip Reeker applauded the EU's decision to sanction the groups.

"We have consistently said that the fight against terrorism requires international co-operation in the fullest measure," he said.

At the same time, a sixth organisation, Spain's First of October Anti-fascist Resistance Group, has also been targeted.