U.S. Seeks UN Sanctions Against Pakistan Group Leader For Attack

Masood Azhar (right) is head of the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militant group. (file photo)

The United States is seeking to place the leader of a Pakistan-based militant group blamed by India for a suicide attack that killed dozens of Indian soldiers in Kashmir last month on the UN sanctions blacklist.

The Associated Press has seen a draft resolution circulated on March 27 to Security Council members that would slap a travel ban and freeze the assets of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) head Masood Azhar.

The resolution would also condemn "in the strongest terms the heinous and cowardly suicide bombing" in the Indian-held sector of Kashmir that killed 40 paramilitary soldiers and wounded many others.

The February 14 attack raised tensions between India and Pakistan and led to an Indian retaliatory air strike inside Pakistan.

The draft resolution underlines the need "to hold perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism accountable and bring them to justice."

The Security Council added JeM to the UN sanctions black list in October 2001 for its association with Al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, and the Taliban.

With reporting by AP