Advertisement

Libya: U.S. airstrikes kill former commander in al-Qaida's North Africa branch

Libya's recognized government says U.S. airstrikes killed an Algerian terrorist involved with al-Qaida, while the Pentagon says it is assessing the results of the strikes.

By Fred Lambert
The recognized Libyan government says U.S. airstrikes in Libya on Sunday, June 14, 2015, killed Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a former senior commander in al-Qaida's North Africa branch. The Pentagon said it had targeted an al-Qaida figure in Libya but was still assessing the results. Photo from The National Counterterrorism Center
The recognized Libyan government says U.S. airstrikes in Libya on Sunday, June 14, 2015, killed Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a former senior commander in al-Qaida's North Africa branch. The Pentagon said it had targeted an al-Qaida figure in Libya but was still assessing the results. Photo from The National Counterterrorism Center

AJDABYA, Libya, June 14 (UPI) -- U.S. airstrikes in Libya killed Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a former commander in al-Qaida's North Africa branch, according to the Libyan government.

Pentagon spokesman Col. Steven H. Warren said in a statement Sunday night the "U.S. military conducted a counterterrorism strike against an al-Qaida-associated terrorist in Libya," adding that the Pentagon was "assessing the results of the operation and will provide additional information as and when appropriate."

Advertisement

The recognized Libyan government likewise released a statement confirming that "U.S. fighter jets conducted airstrikes last night in a mission which resulted in the death of the terrorist Belmokhtar."

According to the National Counterterrorism Center, Algerian-born Belmokhtar founded the Signed-in Blood Battalion, which was behind the January 2013 attack on a gas facility in In-Amenas, Algeria, that resulted in a four-day siege and the deaths of 37 hostages. Belmokhtar was involved in numerous al-Qaida operations before that time. He had a $5 million bounty on his head.

Libyan media reported that Sunday's strikes were aimed at Ajdabya, in the country's northwest, and killed an additional eight fighters with Islamic militant group Ansar al-Sharia.

Advertisement

The last Western airstrikes to occur in Libya were against the county's former leader, Moammar Gadhafi, in 2011.

Since Gadhafi's fall that year, Libya has become a hotbed of Islamic militancy. Rebel factions turned on one another in the years since, with one group forming an internationally-recognized government in Tobruk, to the northeast, and rival factions forming the General National Congress in Tripoli, to the west. Both sides agreed to a United Nations-backed ceasefire in January, but several militant groups not aligned with either side have not agreed to the arrangement.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State, announced in November 2014 the expansion of the extremist group to branches in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Egypt, Algeria and Libya. The group's Libya affiliate seized control of Derna on the country's Mediterranean coast and has since perpetrated multiple attacks and publicized decapitations.

Militants have been known to attack diplomatic missions in Libya, most notoriously the U.S. mission in Benghazi, where Ambassador Chris Stevens was killed in a September 11, 2012 assault by extremists.

Last year a U.S. military raid in Libya netted Ahmed Abu Khattala, a suspected ringleader in the 2012 attack.

Advertisement

Latest Headlines