Federal prosecutors in New York charged Mokhtar Belmokhtar, an al-Qaeda Islamist currently at large, with crimes related to an attack on a gas facility in Algeria earlier this year that left 37 hostages dead, including three Americans, CNN reported.
Belmokhtar was charged on various conspiracy counts including kidnapping, hostage-taking, providing material support to al-Qaeda as well as conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.
"Mokhtar Belmokhtar unleashed a reign of terror years ago, in furtherance of his self-proclaimed goal of waging bloody jihad against the West," U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a release from the Justice Department. "His efforts culminated in a five-day siege that left dozens dead, including three Americans, and hundreds of others fearing for their lives."
Bemokhtar is the founder of the Signed in Blood Battalion, also known as al-Mulathamun Battalion.
"The charges against Mokhtar Belmokhtar describe a fanatical jihadist leading an extremist vanguard of an extremist ideology," FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge George Venizelos said in the Justice Department statement. "As alleged, he kidnapped diplomats, formed his own terrorist organization that pledged fealty to al-Qaeda, and masterminded the murderous siege of a civilian plant in Algeria that resulted in the deaths of dozens of hostages."
Belmokhtar said the attack was in retaliation for Algeria allowing France to use its airspace to battle Islamist militants in Mali. He has been designated as a foreign terrorist by the United States Department of Treasury in 2003 and is considered a key figure in al Qaeda's efforts in North Africa.
The State Department has a $5 million dollar reward out for information on his whereabouts, ever since taking credit for January's terror attack.
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