WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration moved to block the financial assets of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a Palestinian militia linked to the Fatah faction of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

The action by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control came shortly after Secretary of State Colin Powell on Wednesday designated the brigade and two other Middle East groups as terrorist organizations.

The other groups are Asbat al-Ansar, a Sunni Muslim group based in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, and the Salafist Group for Call and Combat, an Algerian group dedicated to the overthrow of the Algerian government.

It was not known whether the brigade has assets in the United States.