libya US airstrike targets militant leader

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

The U.S. military launched airstrikes Sunday targeting and likely killing an al-Qaida-linked militant leader in eastern Libya who has been charged with leading the attack on a gas plant in Algeria in 2013 that killed at least 35 hostages, including three Americans.

The Libyan government said warplanes targeted and killed Mokhtar BelMokhtar and several others in the eastern city of Ajdabiya. A U.S. official said two F-15 fighter jets launched multiple 500-pound bombs in the attack. The official was not authorized to discuss the details of the attack publicly so spoke on condition of anonymity.

U.S. officials said they still are assessing the results of the strike, but Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren said the military believes the strike was successful and hit the target.

Officials said there were no U.S. personnel on the ground for the assault.

The U.S. filed terrorism charges in 2013 against BelMokhtar in connection with the Algeria attack. Officials have said they believe he remained a threat to U.S. and Western interests. He is an Algerian in his 40s.

The Libyan government in a statement said that the strike came after consultation with the U.S. so that America could take action against a terror leader there.

One government official in Libya said an airstrike in Ajdabiya hit a group believed to be affiliated with Ansar al-Shariah, and that it killed five and injured more. He said the group that was injured got into clashes with the Libyan military that guarded the hospital there, leading to hours of fighting. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.

The charges filed against Belmokhtar by federal law enforcement officials in Manhattan included conspiring to support al-Qaida and use of a weapon of mass destruction. Additional charges of conspiring to take hostages and discharging a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence carry a maximum penalty of death.

At the time, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a release that Belmokhtar “unleashed a reign of terror years ago, in furtherance of his self-proclaimed goal of waging bloody jihad against the West.”

Authorities also offered a $5 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Belmokhtar, who’s also been known as “the one-eyed sheik” since he lost an eye in combat. Belmokhtar left al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, the North African offshoot of the terrorist group, then formed his own spinoff.