Brandis declares Mali group terrorists

An extremist Islamic group responsible for a 2013 siege of a gas processing facility in Algeria has been declared a terrorist organisation by Australia.

Federal Attorney-General George Brandis says Al-Murabitun has been listed as a terror group for the first time in Australia, following similar bans in the United States, Britain, Canada and New Zealand.

The Sunni Islamic group based in northern Mali has links to al-Qaeda, and in 2013 was responsible for the siege of a BP plant in Algeria which left 40 people dead.

The listing makes it an offence to be a member of or train with Al-Murabitun, or to provide financial and other support to the group, with a maximum penalty of 25 years in jail.