Belmokhtar’s killing big success for US

BENGHAZI: Al-Qaeda-linked militant Mokhtar Belmokhtar, who allegedly masterminded the siege of an Algerian gas plant in which 38 hostages died, has been killed in a US air strike, Libya’s internationally recognized government said.
“American jets conducted an operation which resulted in the deaths of Mokhtar Belmokhtar and a group of Libyans belonging to a terrorist organization in eastern Libya,” said a statement posted on Facebook.
The Pentagon said Belmokhtar had been the target but did not confirm his death, which has been reported many times in the past.
Hatem El-Ouraybi, spokesman for the recognized government, told AFP on Monday: “Coordination with the US will continue in fighting these terrorist groups.”
The strike came as part of “the international support that we have always asked for in order to fight terrorist groups in Libya,” Ouraybi said.
Belmokhtar, nicknamed variously as “The Uncatchable,” “Mr Marlboro” and “The One-Eyed,” was leader of the North African Al-Murabitoun militant group and a former chief of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
He allegedly masterminded the 2013 siege of an Algerian gas plant in which 38 hostages, mostly Westerners, were killed.
“I can confirm that the target of last night’s counterterrorism strike in Libya was Mokhtar Belmokhtar,” Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren said in a statement Sunday.