The United States on Wednesday added a Kurdish militant group opposed to Iran to its list of terrorist organizations, dpa reported.
The US Treasury Department banned US citizens from doing business with the Free Life Party of Kurdistan, or PJAK, and froze any of the group's assets under US jurisdiction.
The PJAK is controlled by the larger Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, which has been waging a separatist conflict against Turkey for years and is already blacklisted by the US government.
"With today's action, we are exposing PJAK's terrorist ties to the (PKK) and supporting Turkey's efforts to protect its citizens from attack," Stuart Levey, a Treasury Department under secretary, said in a statement.
Turkish authorities have blamed the PKK for dozens of bombings since 2004 and for attacks on its military. Turkey launched a massive assault last year in northern Iraq against the PKK.