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| Dead or alive? Why the world’s most-wanted terrorist has been killed at least three times Dead or alive? Why the world’s most-wanted terrorist has been killed at least three times | |
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| In 2006, in an interview with the journal of a North African terrorist faction operating at the time, Mokhtar Belmokhtar said: “I dream of only one thing: to die a martyr.” A decade later, he may have achieved his goal. Or, judging by the number of times he has been reported dead in the meantime, he may not have done. At the time of writing, we don’t know. | In 2006, in an interview with the journal of a North African terrorist faction operating at the time, Mokhtar Belmokhtar said: “I dream of only one thing: to die a martyr.” A decade later, he may have achieved his goal. Or, judging by the number of times he has been reported dead in the meantime, he may not have done. At the time of writing, we don’t know. |
| Such is – or was – the life of one of the world’s most-wanted terrorists, an Algerian-born shopkeeper’s son and veteran of the Afghan civil war, who returned to North Africa to wage jihadism in the name of al-Qaida. He called his son Osama and has himself been variously nicknamed the Uncatchable, the Unkillable and, thanks to his purported involvement in cigarette smuggling, Marlboro Man. | Such is – or was – the life of one of the world’s most-wanted terrorists, an Algerian-born shopkeeper’s son and veteran of the Afghan civil war, who returned to North Africa to wage jihadism in the name of al-Qaida. He called his son Osama and has himself been variously nicknamed the Uncatchable, the Unkillable and, thanks to his purported involvement in cigarette smuggling, Marlboro Man. |
| There have been more reports this week that Belmokhtar is now dead, after a strike in southern Libya by French aircraft using US intelligence. Neither the Pentagon nor the French ministry of defence has commented on the claims, but unnamed US officials “expressed greater confidence” that this attempt had been successful. | There have been more reports this week that Belmokhtar is now dead, after a strike in southern Libya by French aircraft using US intelligence. Neither the Pentagon nor the French ministry of defence has commented on the claims, but unnamed US officials “expressed greater confidence” that this attempt had been successful. |
| The militant’s last reported death came in June 2015, after a US strike. Belmokhtar has been a US target for more than a decade and has been blamed or claimed responsibility for several attacks, including the 2013 siege at a BP gas plant in Algeria in which 39 foreign hostages were killed, including six Britons and three Americans. | The militant’s last reported death came in June 2015, after a US strike. Belmokhtar has been a US target for more than a decade and has been blamed or claimed responsibility for several attacks, including the 2013 siege at a BP gas plant in Algeria in which 39 foreign hostages were killed, including six Britons and three Americans. |
| “He was not only Marlboro Man but also Mr Kalashnikov and Mr RPG,” says François Margolin, a French film-maker who directed Salafistes, which explores the ultra-conservative Islamic Salafist movement in North Africa. Margolin interviewed associates of Belmokhtar, who ran an extensive weapons smuggling network. He said the militant had been protected by challenging geography, as well as fleet-footedness and a steady supply of sim cards. | “He was not only Marlboro Man but also Mr Kalashnikov and Mr RPG,” says François Margolin, a French film-maker who directed Salafistes, which explores the ultra-conservative Islamic Salafist movement in North Africa. Margolin interviewed associates of Belmokhtar, who ran an extensive weapons smuggling network. He said the militant had been protected by challenging geography, as well as fleet-footedness and a steady supply of sim cards. |
| Raffaello Pantucci, a counter-terrorism researcher at the Royal United Services Institute, and the author of “We Love Death as You Love Life”: Britain’s Suburban Terrorists, says figures such as Belmokhtar use reports of their deaths as propaganda. “It increases the mythology around a character, a warrior able to sneak in and out and evade the world’s intelligence services,” he says. “And when you look at the narratives of people who go out to fight, we often see that those charismatic individuals are crucial.” | Raffaello Pantucci, a counter-terrorism researcher at the Royal United Services Institute, and the author of “We Love Death as You Love Life”: Britain’s Suburban Terrorists, says figures such as Belmokhtar use reports of their deaths as propaganda. “It increases the mythology around a character, a warrior able to sneak in and out and evade the world’s intelligence services,” he says. “And when you look at the narratives of people who go out to fight, we often see that those charismatic individuals are crucial.” |
| Reported hits can also be useful to intelligence agencies, Pantucci adds. “Leaking a report puts an element of uncertainty around that individual,” he explains. “That can force others into the open or the individual to expose themselves by making a video to prove they are alive.” Even if the latest reports are true, Margolin warns, “the problem is that for many of these people, the border between life and death is not so important; there are a lot of other jihadists.” | Reported hits can also be useful to intelligence agencies, Pantucci adds. “Leaking a report puts an element of uncertainty around that individual,” he explains. “That can force others into the open or the individual to expose themselves by making a video to prove they are alive.” Even if the latest reports are true, Margolin warns, “the problem is that for many of these people, the border between life and death is not so important; there are a lot of other jihadists.” |