The US military said it launched weekend airstrikes targeting and likely killing a militant leader in eastern Libya charged with leading the attack on a gas plant in Algeria in 2013 that killed at least 35 hostages, including three US citizens.
However, a Muslim extremist with ties to Libyan militants said the strikes missed Mokhtar Belmokhtar, instead killing four members of a Libyan militant group the US has linked to a Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the US consulate in Benghazi that killed US Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other US citizens.
US officials said they are still assessing the Saturday strike, but Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steve Warren said the military believes the strike was successful and hit the target. Neither US officials nor the Libyan government provided proof of Belmokhtar’s death, which likely requires a DNA test or an announcement by Belmokhtar’s group that he was killed.
Photo: AFP / HO / ANI
“I can confirm that the target of last night’s counterterrorism strike in Libya was Mokhtar Belmokhtar,” Warren said on Sunday. “Belmokhtar has a long history of leading terrorist activities as a member of [al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb], is the operational leader of the ... al-Murabitun organization in northwest Africa and maintains his personal allegiance to al-Qaeda.”
A US official said two F-15s launched multiple 227kg bombs in the attack. The official was not authorized to discuss details and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Authorities said no US personnel were on the ground for the assault.
This is not the first time authorities have claimed to have killed Belmokhtar, thought be in his 40s who reportedly lost his eye in combat and fought in Afghanistan.
He is among fighters who have battled Algeria’s government since the 1990s, later joining al-Qaeda.
US intelligence officials say Belmokhtar built a bridge between al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and other criminals, creating a system where various outlaws support each other and enroll local youth.
He has been linked to terror attacks and the lucrative kidnapping of foreigners in the region.
The US filed terrorism charges in 2013 against Belmokhtar in connection with the Algeria attack. Officials have said they believe he remained a threat to US and Western interests.
Belmokhtar had reportedly split from al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb to start his own franchise.
The Libyan government in a statement on Sunday said that the strike targeting Belmokhtar came after consultation with the US so that the US could take action against a militant leader in the nation.
One government official in Libya said an airstrike in the northeastern coastal city of Ajdabiya hit a group of Muslim militants also believed to be linked to al-Qaeda and that it killed five and wounded more. He said the group that was wounded later fought the Libyan military that guarded the hospital there, leading to an hours-long battle. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters. The official could not confirm that was the same strike that killed Belmokhtar.
The extremist, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals in Libya, told reporters early yesterday that Belmokhtar was not at the site of the US strike.
He said the strike killed four Ansar al-Shariah members in Ajdabiya. US officials have linked the group to the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the US consulate in Benghazi.
The charges filed against Belmokhtar by US federal law enforcement officials in Manhattan included conspiring to support al-Qaeda.
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