The terrorist Mokhtar Belmokhtar was "very likely" been killed, according to Holland
Le Monde.fr avec AFP et Reuters | • Updated
image: http://s2.lemde.fr/image/2015/06/15/534x0/4653911_6_2f4b_mokhtar-belmokhtar-sur-une-image-datee-du-17_be9b61927ddd5d00d679c20eebe53dc8.jpg
The US military conducted a targeted bombing in Libya against the Algerian Mokhtar Belmokhtar, figure of the jihadist insurgency in North Africa and the Sahel, on the night of Saturday 13 to Sunday, June 14, the Pentagon announced. "We evaluate the results of the operation and provide additional information when this is appropriate, "said his spokesman in a statement.
According to the Libyan authorities recognized by the international community, the terrorist, whose death has been announced several times, has been killed.The strike took place "after consultation with the Libyan interim government," the statement said. The US military says wait for autopsy results before deciding on the fate of the terrorist. Visits Algiers Monday, Francois Hollande, found that there was a "very high probability" that the jihadi leader was killed. "I can not confirm [death] but we knew by our own services was Belmokhtar in Libya, "saidthe French president asked at a press conference.
The Libyan news agency LANA, citing a government official recognized by the international community, states that "strikes of the US Air Force took place (...) on a farm (...) in Ajdabiya, 160 km west of Benghazi, capital of eastern Libya, where Belmokhtar was holding a meeting with other leaders of extremist groups, including members of Ansar al-Sharia ", an organization classified as terrorist by the UN .
"The Elusive"
Ex-chief of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), with whom he joined in dissent, Mokhtar Belmokhtar was created in late 2012 its own fighting unit, the "Signatories blood." In January 2013, he claimed the bloody attack and massive hostage-taking that had ensued on the In Amenas gas complex in the Algerian Sahara, which had resulted in the death of 37 foreigners, a Algerian and 29 kidnappers.
Given up for dead by Chad in April 2013, he claimed a double suicide bombing in Niger the following month, which had twenty dead. Sentenced to death twice by the Algerian justice, he had ordered the murder of four French in Mauritania in December 2007 and the kidnapping of two Canadians in 2008, three Spaniards and two Italians in 2009. If confirmed, the death of him that French forces have dubbed "The Elusive" would be a major blow against the al-Qaida operations in the region.
Mokhtar Belmokhtar had reaffirmed in mid-May the loyalty of his group, Al-Mourabitoune to Al Qaeda and denied allegiance to the Islamic State (EI) proclaimed by another leader, suggesting a serious discord in the hierarchy of the movement.
Chaos in Libya
Plunged into chaos since the fall in 2011 of dictator Muammar Gaddafi, Libya is torn by fighting between heavily armed militias, and the country now has two governments - and parliaments - rivals: one recognized by the international community with headquarters in Tobruk in the east, the other in Tripoli under the control of Fajr Libya, a militia coalition.
Jihadist groups took advantage of the chaos, including the Islamic state, which was established last year in Libya and announced on June 9 have taken the city of Sirte (450 km east of Tripoli ) and a nearby power plant.
American bombing coincided with violent clashes between rival jihadist groups in Derna, stronghold of radical Islamists in Libya, 280 km east of Benghazi.
The last operation of Americans in Libya dates back to June 2014, when their special forces had captured Ahmed Abu Khattala, one of the alleged organizers of the attack against the US consulate in Benghazi in 2012 that had killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.
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