US Airstrike ‘Likely’ Killed Al Qaeda Leader in Libya

The U.S. military launched an airstrike that targeted and “likely” killed the Al Qaeda leader behind the attack on a gas plant in Algeria in 2013 that killed 35 hostages, including three Americans, a senior defense official told Fox News Sunday.

Libyan government and U.S. officials say warplanes targeted Mokhtar BelMokhtar and several others in the eastern city of Ajdabiya. The U.S. filed terrorism charges against BelMokhtar last year in connection with the Algeria attack. Officials have said they believe he remained a threat to U.S. and Western interests.

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 Qaeda 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. (Read more from “US Airstrike ‘Likely’ Killed Al Qaeda Leader in Libya” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.