French strike believed to kill al-Qaeda ally Mokhtar Belmokhtar

PanARMENIAN.Net - One-eyed hostage killer Mokhtar Belmokhtar, one of al-Qaeda's most notorious allies in North Africa, was said Monday, November 28 to have been slain in a French air strike, AFP reports.

A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed a report in the Wall Street Journal that US intelligence helped France target the veteran jihadist.

The news came as French defense minister Jean-Yves Le Drian was in Washington for talks with his US counterpart Secretary of Defense Ash Carter.

But neither top official confirmed the strike, said to have taken place in southern Libya earlier this month.

The Algerian militant, commander of an al-Qaeda-linked faction of the al-Murabitoun group, has been reported killed on several previous occasions.

But the official told AFP the latest strike is believed to have finally hit the elusive militant, once known for kidnapping Europeans for multimillion dollar ransoms.

According to the Wall Street Journal report, citing experts and unnamed officials, the strike reflects closer US and French intelligence cooperation.

After November 2015, Islamist attacks on Paris left 130 dead, US President Barack Obama announced promised that closer intelligence cooperation with Paris would begin.

Belmokhtar became one of the world's most wanted men in 2013 after a spectacular assault on the In Amenas gas plant in Algeria left at least 38 hostages dead.

This year, his group claimed responsibility for an attack on a luxury hotel in Burkina Faso that killed another 20 people, most of them foreigners.

And reports he had arrived in Libya have fuelled concern that jihadists will take advantage of the political turmoil there to establish a base of operations.

Washington put a $5 million bounty on the 44-year-old's head, dubbing him the leader of the Khaled Abu al-Abbas Brigade, also known as the "Signatories in Blood."

In May last year, he insisted that al-Murabitoun remains loyal to al-Qaeda, despite another of its leaders pledging allegiance the Islamic State group.

Belmokhtar was born on June 1, 1972 in the ancient desert city of Ghardaia, 370 miles (600 kilometers) south of the Algerian capital.