Libya Says Al Qaeda-Linked Leader Killed by U.S. Airstrikes

The veteran terrorist known as “The Uncatchable” has finally been caught and killed, according to statements made by the internationally recognized government of Libya. Mokhtar Belmokhtar was reportedly killed early Sunday in airstrikes conducted in eastern Libya by the United States. The U.S. military acknowledged Belmokhtar was a target but has not confirmed his death.

Belmokhtar is accused of masterminding the attack on an Algerian gas plant on Jan. 16, 2013, which killed 38 Western hostages.

It is not the first time that Belmokhtar has been reportedly “killed.” The terrorist was believed to have been killed two years ago in Mali, but it was discovered last year that he had moved to Libya. Some Islamists with ties to Libyan militants deny that Belmokhtar was killed in this latest targeted attack.

Belmokhtar and his terrorist group claimed that the hostage crisis at the Algerian gas plant was a response to the West’s intervention in neighboring Mali. It is an indication of how radical Islamism can easily spread from one nation to another—in this case, from Mali to Algeria and to Libya.

For more on the long-term effects of radical Islam in North Africa, read Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry’s article “Watch Algeria!”