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January 17, 2013

Mokhtar Belmokhtar: The One-Eyed Jihadi

Peter Beaumont, Guardian UK

AP Photo

For a man whose death in combat in the Malian city of Gao was announced last June, Mokhtar Belmokhtar – the Islamist militant allegedly behind the raid on the Ansema gas field in Algeria – has been surprisingly busy.

Since that raid – which saw the deaths of several foreign oil workers, including a Briton, and the kidnapping of 41 more – Belmokhtar has been described in journalistic shorthand as "al-Qaida".

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TAGGED: Algeria, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Mokhtar Belmokhtar

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