US blacklists Indonesia militants

Jailed Abu Bakar Ba'asyir is scheduled to be freed in June

The US Treasury says it has blacklisted the alleged spiritual leader of Indonesian militant group Jemaah Islamiah (JI) and three other members.

Radical cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir is in jail for his role in the 2002 Bali bombings but is to be freed in June.

The US Treasury said the members had "been trained, funded and directed by al-Qaeda to pursue a like-minded terrorist agenda".

The move freezes assets and bans US citizens from transacting with the men.

Jemaah Islamiah has been blamed for a series of bombings in the region, most notably that in Bali in October 2002, in which 202 people died.

Ba'asyir was sentenced to 30 months in prison for conspiracy over the attack.

The US banned the group shortly after the Bali bombings, but it is not banned in Indonesia.

Although the Treasury froze the assets of the four men in the US it did not give any details of their accounts, if any.

The others blacklisted are:

• Gun Gun Rusman Gunawan, said to be the younger brother of Jemaah Islamiah operations head Hambali who was arrested in Thailand and is now in US custody.

• Taufik Rifki, believed to be the group's ex-finance officer in the Philippines and currently detained there.

• Abdullah Anshori, head of a Jemaah Islamiah branch called Mantiq II, the Treasury says. He is one of the most senior leaders still free, it says.