Prosecutors in the United States have officially charged militant Islamist leader, Mokhtar Belmokhtar over a deadly attack on an Algerian gas plant in January this year, placing a bounty of $5m for information leading to his arrest.
The charges indicted against him include hostage-taking, kidnapping and conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction against civilians.
37 hostages were killed when Algerian troops stormed the Tigantourine plant after militants led by Mokhtar Belmokhtar took hostages of the facility in Algeria back in January this year. Those killed include 3 US nationals.
Belmokhtar remains at large and the US is offering a $5m reward for information leading to his arrest to face prosecution.
A statement released by US attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara stated that Belmokhtar has been indicted and the US is seeking justice.
“Belmokhtar brought terror and blood to these innocent people and now we intend to bring Belmokhtar to justice,’’ he said.
Belmokhtar is believed to have appeared in an online video the day after the siege ended, claiming he had carried out the attack on behalf of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
He is a leading figure in al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and has also succeeded in establishing a group of militants known variously as the Signed-in-Blood Battalion, the Masked Men Brigade and the Khaled Abu al-Abbas Brigade in the Islamic Maghreb to carry out his deadly missions.
Militants attacked two buses carrying foreign workers from the Tigantourine gas facility near Amenas in eastern Algeria on 16 January taking workers hostage at the gas complex.
But the facility was quickly surrounded by the Algerian army and without further examination of the facility, the Algerian army carried out air strikes leading to the death of 37 hostages.
29 militants were also believed to have died in the assault but the US, Japan and the UK blamed the Algerian army partly for the heavy casualties of the workers.
Issaka Adams / NationalTurk Africa News
