US airstrike ‘kills’ extremist north African militant Mokhtar Belmokhtar

The Al Qaeda-linked militant who masterminded the siege of an Algerian gas plant in which 38 hostages died, was targeted by an airstrike on a farm in eastern Libya.

Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a veteran extremist militant was targeted in a US airstrike in eastern Libya. EPA

Benghazi, Libya // The United States coordinated with Libya’s internationally recognised government over the airstrike is believed to have killed a top Al Qaeda-linked militant, the Pentagon said on Monday.

Mokhtar Belmokhtar, who allegedly masterminded the siege of an Algerian gas plant in which 38 hostages died, was initially confirmed dead by the Libyan government, but its military spokesman later said it was not certain.

Major Mohammed Hegazi said two foreign militant leaders and a Tunisian fighter were among 17 killed in the US airstrike in eastern Libya but tests were needed to determine if Belmokhtar was among them.

Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steve Warren confirmed that Belmokhtar was the target of the weekend strike.

‘‘We are continuing to assess the results of the operation and will provide more details as appropriate,’’ he said.

Previous reports of Belmokhtar’s death in recent years proved to be wrong.

The US Air Force secretary, Deborah Lee James, said “precision weapons” were used in the raid by F-15E warplanes.

Hatem Al Ouraybi, a spokesman for Libya’s recognised government, said the strike came as part of “the international support that we have always asked for in order to fight terrorist groups in Libya”.

“Coordination with the US will continue in fighting these terrorist groups,” he said on Monday.

Belmokhtar, 43, who is said to have lost his left eye while mishandling explosives, was considered a mastermind of a raid at an Algerian gas plant in 2013 that killed dozens of hostages. He was charged by the US for that attack in July 2013 and would face a possible death sentence or life in prison if convicted.

The strike marked a rare US intervention in Libya since the 2012 attack on the US consulate in Benghazi that killed four Americans, including the US ambassador, Christopher Stevens.

The last US operation in Libya was in 2014, when special forces captured Ahmed Abu Khattala, an alleged organiser of the Benghazi attack.

Libya’s Lana news agency cited an official from the internationally recognised government as saying the US airstrike targeted a farm south of Ajdabiya, some 160 kilometres west of Benghazi, as Belmokhtar met leaders from other extremist groups including Ansar Al Sharia, listed by Washington as a “terrorist” organisation.

Belmokhtar was previously thought to have been killed in Mali, but security sources said last year he had moved to Libya.

Born in 1972 in Algeria, he said in a rare 2007 interview he had been fascinated with the exploits of the mujaheddin combating the Soviet invaders of Afghanistan, and joined them in 1991 when he was barely 19.

It was in Afghanistan that he said he lost his eye and where he had his first contact with Al Qaeda.

He returned to Algeria in 1993, eventually joining the group that became Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (Aqim).

But he was pushed out as one of the group’s top two leaders in northern Mali for what one regional security official said were his “continued divisive activities despite several warnings”.

A Malian official cited Aqim as saying that Belmokhtar, whose nickname “Mr Marlboro” came from his reputation as a cigarette smuggling baron, had been “dismissed for straying from the right path”.

A scathing Al Qaeda letter criticising him hit the headlines in 2013 in the wake of French armed intervention in Mali.

Belmokhtar founded his Al Qaeda breakaway group “Signatories in Blood” in 2012, later merging it with MUJAO, one of the exremist groups that seized northern Mali in early 2012, to form Al Murabitoun.

Along with the Algerian siege, Belmokhtar also claimed a May 2013 double suicide bombing in Niger that killed 20 people.

Al Murabitoun last month said it had pledged allegiance to ISIL group, but Belmokhtar immediately distanced himself from the declaration. He vowed continued backing for Al Qaeda in what was interpreted as evidence of a serious power struggle.

Libya has descended into chaos since a Nato-backed revolt unseated long-time dictator Muammar Qaddafi in 2011. It has rival governments and parliaments, with powerful militias battling for influence and a share of its oil wealth.

Extremist groups have exploited the lawlessness, which has also prompted a huge influx of migrants trying to make the dangerous Mediterranean crossing to Europe, with hundreds dying in shipwrecks and the EU straining to respond.

* Agencies