EU adds Kurd rebels to terror list

ETA has been blamed for attacks in which more than 800 have died

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- The Kurdish rebel group PKK and seven people with ties to Basque separatist group ETA have been added to the European Union's terrorist list.

The expanded list, made public on Friday, adds 18 individuals and groups to the EU's initial draft published in December.

The list, to be reviewed every six months, was widened to more than 50 people and groups to bring it in line with U.S. terrorist lists that followed the September 11 terror attacks.

EU governments must freeze assets of people and groups on the list, according to EU rules.

RESOURCES Updated terrorist list  from the Council of the European Union

Of the 11 groups added to the EU list, two are based in Turkey, including the PKK, or Kurdistan Workers' Party, which last month changed its name to the Kurdistan Freedom and Democracy Congress, or Kadek.

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By placing the group on its list as the PKK, the EU signalled that it does not recognise the change, The Associated Press reported.

The group has waged a 15-year war against Turkey in which 37,000 people have died, mainly Kurds. It also said last month it was ending its armed struggle in order to campaign peacefully for more rights for Kurds in southeastern Turkey.

But the group, led by Osman Ocalan since his brother, Abdullah was captured and tried in 1999, said it was not disbanding its armed wing, and the Turkish government dismissed the name change as meaningless.

The other Turkish-based group added to the EU list is the far-left DHKP-C, or Revolutionary People's Liberation Army/Front, which has been leading a hunger strike to protest against prison conditions.

Other groups added to the EU list include the Peruvian leftist group Shining Path, which was responsible for numerous bombings and kidnappings during the early 1990s, and the Iranian People's Mujahidin Organization.

Spanish Basque separatist group Aska Tasuna was also added, as were the names of seven individuals with links to ETA.

ETA itself was put on the initial list last December, as were Afghanistan's Taliban, Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Greek November 17 organisation and several Northern Ireland groups, including the Republican group calling itself the Real IRA and Protestant groups like the Loyalist Volunteer Force, the Ulster Defence Association and the Red Hand Defenders.

Diplomats from the 15 EU nations agreed on the additions on Monday, and the list was finished by Thursday.