U.S. brands Egyptian Muhammad Jamal as 'global terrorist'

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department on Monday named the Muhammad Jamal Network and its founder, Egyptian Muhammad Jamal, as "specially designated global terrorists," a status that freezes any assets they have under U.S. jurisdiction.

In a statement, the department said Jamal trained with al Qaeda and learned how to build bombs in Afghanistan in the 1980s and returned to Egypt in the 1990s, becoming head of the operational wing of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, then led by Ayman al-Zawahiri, who is the current leader of al Qaeda.