WASHINGTON, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- The US Treasury Department ordered on Tuesday to freeze the assets of a Kuwaiti man suspectedof providing financial support to insurgents in Iraq as an al Qaeda operative.

    The Treasury Department said it had added Mohsen al-Fadhli to its list of terror suspects. This moves means that all his bank accounts or financial assets in the United States would be blockedand Americans are barred from having financial transactions with him.

    It also means the US government would ask other United Nations member countries to cooperate in freezing his assets.

    The department said al-Fadhli was an al Qaeda leader in the Gulf region and had fought with militants in Afghanistan and Chechnya.

    It said al-Fadhli also provided financial and material support to insurgent networks in Iraq led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who hasdeclared loyalty to al Qaeda. He requested that tapes be made showing evidence of successful attacks in Iraq, the department said.

    Al-Fadhli was pursued by Kuwaiti security forces for suspected connections with a recent string of violence in Kuwait.

    In late January, the Treasury Department froze the assets of Sulayman Khalid Darwish, a Syrian man who was also believed to have provided support to al-Zarqawi's network.

    Treasury Secretary John Snow said the latest move was "another important step" in breaking the financial ties the al-Zarqawi networks depends on. Enditem