Mokhtar Belmokhtar



Mokhtar Belmokhtar (Arabic: مختار بلمختار‎; born 1 June 1972), also known as 'The One-Eyed, Nelson, The Uncatchable, is an Algerian leader of the group Al-Murabitoun, former military commander of Al-Qaeda in the Maghreb, smuggler and weapons dealer. He was twice convicted and sentenced to death in absentia under separate charges in Algerian courts: in 2007 for terrorism and in 2008 for murder. In 2004, he was sentenced to life imprisonment in Algeria for terrorist activities.

Born in northern Algeria, Belmokhtar traveled to Afghanistan in 1991 to fight with the mujahadeen against the pro-Soviet government following the withdrawal of Soviet Union troops. There, he lost his left eye while mishandling explosives. He later joined the Islamist GIA fighting in the Algerian Civil War and following that became a commander in the Mali-based Islamist Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

In December 2012, Belmokhtar announced he was leaving AQIM and headed his own organisation, dubbed the Al-Mulathameen ("Masked") Brigade (also known as the al-Mua'qi'oon Biddam ("Those who Sign with Blood" Brigade). In January 2013, the Brigade took more than 800 people hostage at the Tigantourine gas facility in Algeria. 39 hostages were executed and one Algerian killed before the facility was recaptured by Algerian forces, who killed 29 members of the Brigade. The Brigade was listed by the US State Department as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in December 2013.

On 2 March 2013, the Chadian state television and the Chadian Army reported that Belmokhtar had been killed in a raid by Chadian troops against a terrorist base in Mali. However, two months later, Belmokhtar claimed responsibility for two suicide truck bomb attacks — on a French-owned uranium mine in Arlit, Niger, and a military base 150 miles away in Agadez.

On 14 June 2015, Libya's government announced that Belmokhtar was killed in a U.S. airstrike inside Libya. U.S. officials confirmed the airstrike and that Belmokhtar was a target, but were unable to confirm that Belmokhtar was killed. In November 2016, Belmokhtar was targeted again in a French airstrike, conducted by French aircraft in southern Libya, based on intelligence from the United States. U.S. officials were unable to confirm Belmokhtar's death.