The United States has imposed sanctions on six individuals, including Eritrea's spy chief and a senior Eritrean military officer, for aiding Somali militants. A Muslim cleric in Kenya and a Sudanese man are also accused of providing financial and logistical support to the Islamist al-Shabab group.

Two other Kenyans named by the US Treasury Department are in jail. The move will freeze the assets of the men in the US and block them from doing business in the country.

Eritrea is already subject to UN sanctions for supporting the al-Qaeda aligned militants, which it denies. Al-Shabab, which joined al-Qaeda earlier this year, is fighting a UN-backed government in Somalia. The group still controls much of the country but is under pressure from pro-government militias, an African Union force and troops from Ethiopia, which remains Eritrea's bitter foe after their 1998-2000 border war.