Al Qaeda commander Mokhtar Belmokhtar. Image from Sahara Media.
One-Eyed Terror Leader’s Government Connections -- Eli Lake and Jamie Dettmer, The Daily Beast
Jihadist behind the desert attack that left scores dead may have once worked as an Algerian informant, U.S. intelligence officials believe. By Eli Lake and Jamie Dettmer.
The Jihadist mastermind of last week’s deadly raid on a natural gas facility in the Sahara Desert may once have worked as an agent for Algeria’s secretive internal security agency (Département du Renseignement et de la Sécurité or DRS), according to current and former U.S. intelligence officers.
The jihadist leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar made a name for himself as far back as the 1990s as a successful smuggler earning him the nickname in some circles as “Marlboro Man” for his exploits as a cigarette smuggler. Last year, Belmokhtar broke away from al Qaeda’s North Africa affiliate after being passed over for promotion, and formed a new group called the “Signed in Blood” battalion. On Monday in a video posted to the Internet, he claimed responsibility for the assault on the gas facility.
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My Comment: This reminds me of Osama Bin Laden and al Qaeda in Afghanistan before 9/11. We knew who and what they were .... and that was about it.
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