Al Qaeda Says Militant Leader Was Not Killed by U.S. Airstrike in Libya
TRIPOLI, Libya, June 19 (UPI) — Radical Islamic leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar was not killed in a U.S. military airstrike on Libya last weekend, contrary to the Libyan government’s claims, a branch of al Qaeda said Friday.Sunday, two F-15 fighter jets dropped a pair of bombs on a house near the Libyan town of Ajdabiya — believing jihadist leaders were meeting inside. The Libyan government later said Belmokhtar had been killed in the attack. U.S. officials have not yet made that declaration.
Friday, however, al Qaeda’s North African branch refuted that claim and said the so-called “One-Eyed Sheikh of the Sahara,” who also goes by the name Khalid Abu-al-Abbas, remains very much alive.
“The mujahid commander Khalid Abu al-Abbas is still alive and well, and he wanders and roams in the land of Allah, supporting his allies and vexing his enemies,” al Qaeda in the Maghreb said in a statement.
The Pentagon previously said it was still assessing the intelligence gathered from the raid, and did not confirm Belmokhtar’s death.
The militant leader is thought to be responsible for numerous kidnappings in recent years and, according to U.S. officials, plotted an attack on an Algerian gas plant in 2013 that killed 38 people.
The Pentagon did, however, acknowledge that the airstrike was intended to kill Belmokhtar.
