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UNITED NATIONS, Thursday (Reuters)

An Islamic separatist group in China and an aide to Osama bin Laden were added to a United Nations list of organizations and individuals whose assets are to be frozen for connections with terrorism, U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said.

Most of the names on the U.N. list of more than 250 businesses, groups and people were put there by Washington for associations with bin Laden's al Qaeda network, held responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, and the ousted Taliban in Afghanistan.

This week the U.S. Treasury joined China and Kyrgyzstan in adding the Eastern Turkestan Islamic Movement to the U.N. list. China has said 162 people had been killed and more than 440 injured since 1990 by militants seeking a separate state called East Turkestan in its northwest region of Xianjang.

Two weeks ago, the United States said it had information that the group had ties to Al Qaeda and was plotting an attack against the American Embassy in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Saudi Arabia submitted the name of Wa'el Hamza Julaidan, which the U.S. Treasury said was named by bin Laden and one of his top lieutenants, Abu Zubaydah, now in U.S. custody, as an associate.

Meanwhile Switzerland Wednesday reiterated its support for the global fight against terrorism, underlining its efforts to cut financing to extremist groups.

Justice and Police Minister Ruth Metzler used the September 11 anniversary to highlight Swiss efforts to choke off funding to extremist organisations, many of which have used the country's famously secretive banking network to hide assets.

The minister, speaking to journalists, also called for the Swiss parliament to urgently ratify two UN conventions on the issue, the day after the country became the 190th member of the United Nations.

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