From: Council on Foreign Relations
The London-based Saudi magazine, El Majalaa, is reporting that Mokhtar Belmokhtar is still alive, contrary to U.S. claims in 2013, 2015, and 2016 that he had been killed in Libya. The report, which cites correspondence with Libyan and Algerian intelligence services, states that he is operating in the largely ungoverned spaces between Chad, Niger, and Mali.
Born in Algeria in 1972, Belmokhtar fought as a jihadi in the Afghan and Algerian civil wars. He lost an eye in Afghanistan, earning him the nickname “the One-Eyed.” He is also called “Mr. Marlboro” because of his involvement in cigarette smuggling, and “the Uncatchable” because of his ability to outwit his pursuers. Considered “the world’s most wanted Algerian,” he has twice been sentenced to death in absentia by Algerian authorities.
