Elusive jihadist 'killed in air strike'

Mokhtar Belmokhtar. Photo / AFP

US attack took out al-Qaeda militant behind 2013 Algerian gas plant attack, claims Libya.

Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the al-Qaeda jihadist known as the "one-eyed sheikh" who led the 2013 attack on an Algerian gas plant that killed 39 people, has been killed in a US air strike, according to Libyan authorities.

The Pentagon confirmed it had struck an "al-Qaeda-associated militant" in Libya on Sunday, and that it was assessing the success of the operation. A United States official said two F-15 fighter jets launched multiple 225kg bombs in the attack.

There have been numerous previous, unfounded claims of Belmokhtar's death, which have only added to his mystique. However, the eastern-based Libyan faction that forms the internationally recognised Government said it had participated in the operation. "The Libyan Government in the east of Libya confirms that the US fighter jets conducted air strikes in a mission which resulted in the death of the terrorist Belmokhtar," a statement said.

Eight other militants, belonging to another militant group, Ansar al-Sharia, were said to have been killed at the same time. A militant told AP last night that Belmokhtar wasn't at the site of the US airstrike. He said the strike killed four Ansar al-Sharia members.

The strike would be the first against a target in the North African country since the end of the war against Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The US-led coalition has been targeting Isis (Islamic State) in both Iraq and Syria, and there had been speculation that campaign would be broadened because of the spread of Isis in Gaddafi's former home town of Sirte and other Libyan cities.

The Pentagon statement made no mention of Isis. Colonel Steve Warren, the spokesman, said the target had been an "al-Qaeda-associated militant" and that the strike had been "successful", without elaborating. "We are assessing the results of the operation and will provide additional information as and when appropriate."

Warren said he did not know exactly where the strike was, or whether it was carried out by a jet or by an unmanned drone. But one report said it took place near the eastern city of Ajdabiya. 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.

Belmokhtar led a renegade group of militants called al-Murabitoun, or The Sentinels, who rejected orders from the local branch of al-Qaeda but were still seen as part of the broader movement. He had recently denied reports that his group had joined Isis, saying he maintained his "bayah" or declaration of allegiance to Ayman al-Zawahiri, leader of al-Qaeda. In January 2013, his group - then known as the "Masked Men Brigade" or "Those who sign in blood" - seized control of a gas facility in the Algerian Sahara, holding hundreds of staff hostage. Many fled as the Algerian Army attacked.

Belmokhtar was widely reported to have been based in lawless parts of the Libyan desert. From there, he masterminded further strikes. Libya has plunged into a three-way war between forces loyal to the Government, Isis, and a variety of Islamist-leaning militias which have seized power in Tripoli. The chaos has made the country a haven for other militants, two of whom have been seized in raids by United States special forces.

In October 2013 a militant with long ties to al-Qaeda, Abu Anas al-Libi, was grabbed and flown to the United States to stand trial in connection with the bombing of US embassies in East Africa in 1998. He died in January from longstanding health problems. A mission in June last year seized Ahmed Abu Khattala, the suspected ringleader of the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi in 2012 in which the ambassador, Chris Stevens, and three other Americans were killed. He is awaiting trial in the US.

- additional reporting AP