Fugitive leader of al-Qaida splinter group blamed for more than 30 deaths after militants seized gas plant
Federal prosecutors in the US have charged the fugitive militant leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar over the Algerian gas plant attack in January that killed more than 30 people, including Americans and Britons.
The charges, which are being filed in New York, include conspiring to support al-Qaida, using a weapon of mass destruction, discharging a firearm and using and carrying an explosive. Additional charges of conspiring to take hostages and discharging a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence carry a maximum penalty of death.
Authorities said a $5m reward was being offered for information leading to the arrest of Belmokhtar, who's also been known as "the one-eyed sheikh" since he lost an eye in combat. Belmokhtar left al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, the north African offshoot of the terrorist group, and formed his own spinoff.
He is accused of participating in the 16 January attack on a western-owned gas processing facility in a remote part of eastern Algeria near the border with Libya.
After a four-day standoff the Algerian army moved in and killed 29 attackers and captured three others. At least 37 hostages, including one Algerian worker, died in the battle. Three Americans and scores of Algerian and foreign nationals were killed.
Belmokhtar "unleashed a reign of terror years ago, in furtherance of his self-proclaimed goal of waging bloody jihad against the west", US attorney Preet Bharara said in a release. "His efforts culminated in a five-day siege that left dozens dead."
The court papers said Belmokhtar appeared in an online video the day after the siege ended, claiming responsibility for the attack on behalf of al-Qaida.
Belmokhtar was designated a foreign terrorist by the US treasury in 2003. Prosecutors said he was a key leader of al-Qaida's efforts in north Africa starting in 2008 as he led attacks that resulted in the kidnapping and murder of numerous individuals.
Among the attacks, the government said, was the December 2008 kidnapping of two western diplomats working in Niger as part of a United Nations mission. The victims were held for about four months before their release in Mali.
Prosecutors say Belmokhtar in a videotaped statement in December called for fighting in Algeria and elsewhere to oppose western influence. After the attack in Algeria three hostage-takers interviewed by US law enforcement officers acknowledged Belmokhtar was an "emir" in their al-Qaida group and said they had received military training in another country prior to carrying out the attack, the US government said.