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US conducts 'counterterrorism strike' against al-Qaida target in Libya Libya claims senior jihadi Belmokhtar killed in US 'counterterrorism strike'
(about 1 hour later)
Libya’s recognised government said on Sunday that the militant Mokhtar Belmokhtar, charged by the US with leading the deadly attack on a gas plant in Algeria in 2013, has been killed in an American air strike inside Libya.
Earlier, the Department of Defense said the US military conducted a counter-terrorism strike against an al Qaida-associated target in Libya on Saturday night, but were assessing results before providing more details.
“The Libyan government in the east of Libya confirms that the US fighter jets conducted air strikes last night in a mission which resulted in the death of the terrorist Belmokhtar,” the Libyan government said.
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The US military said it launched an airstrike on Saturday targeting a mid-level al-Qaida operative in Libya. Pentagon spokeswoman Eileen Lainez said she had no more information on the target of the strike.
A Pentagon spokesman, Colonel Steve Warren, said the military believed the strike was successful and hit the target, but he did not provide the name of the al-Qaida militant. Since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 and Libya’s slide into chaos and fighting between two rival governments, the North African state has seen the rise of Islamist militant groups which are taking advantage of the turmoil.
Libya’s recognised government said later on Sunday that the veteran Algerian militant Mokhtar Belmokhtar had been killed in a US air strike inside Libya as part of counter-terrorism cooperation. Some are allied with al-Qaida’s leadership, others have local loyalties and some have recently declared allegiance to Islamic State, which has been gaining ground.
“The Libyan government in the east of Libya confirms that the US fighter jets conducted air strikes last night in a mission which resulted in the death of the terrorist Belmokhtar,” Reuters reported Libya’s recognised government as saying. Belmokhtar has been reported killed several times, including in 2013 when he was believed to have been killed in Mali. He has earned a reputation as one of the most elusive jihadi leaders in the region.
Confirmation was not immediately forthcoming from US authorities. If confirmed, the death of Belmokhtar – who was blamed for orchestrating the attack on Algeria’s In Amenas gasfield that killed 35 hostages, and nicknamed “Uncatchable” by French forces – would be a major strike against al-Qaeda allied operations in the region.
Warren said he did not know where the strike took place in Libya, and it was not known if it was carried out by a drone or manned aircraft. Warren said there were no US personnel on the ground in Libya for the strike. Libyan officials gave no further details about the area of the strike. But before the US statement, Libyan military sources said that an air strike had been carried on Saturday in Ajdabiya city near Benghazi, killing seven members of the Ansar al Sharia militant group.
Warren said the US was still assessing the results of the strike. Belmokhtar, a one-eyed veteran of Afghanistan and Algeria’s own 1990s Islamist war, was long a major figure in Saharan smuggling, hostage-taking, arms trafficking and insurgencies, including the conflict in Mali.