Mokhtar Belmokhtar is repeatedly referred to in the media as one of Africa’s “best known jihadists.”Reuters, “Sahara Islamist Leader Belmokhtar Dismisses Islamic State Pledge: Report,” New York Times, May 17, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2015/05/17/world/africa/17reuters-sahara-militants.html; Jared Malsin, “Jihadist Believed Killed By U.S. Air Strike Had Been Eclipsed by ISIS,” Time, June 15, 2015, http://time.com/3921560/mokhtar-belmokhtar-isis/. In January 2013, less than two years after the death of Osama bin Laden, Reuters’ Myra MacDonald wrote that al-Mourabitoun co-founder Mokhtar Belmokhtar had “burnished his jihadi credentials by showing that al Qaeda remains a potent threat to Western interests despite” bin Laden’s death.Myra MacDonald, “Belmokhtar burnishes jihadi credentials with Algeria attack,” Reuters, January 17, 2013, http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/17/sahara-crisis-belmokhtar-idUSL6N0AMCX620130117.

The Libyan government reported Belmokhtar had been killed in a June 14, 2015, U.S. airstrike in the country.Eric Schmitt, “U.S. Airstrike in Libya Targets Planner of 2013 Algeria Attack,” New York Times, June 14, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/15/world/middleeast/us-airstrike-targets-qaeda-operative-in-libya.html; Reuters, “U.S. Confirms Militant Belmokhtar Was Target of Libya Air Strike,” New York Times, June 15, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2015/06/15/world/africa/15reuters-libya-usa-target.html?_r=0; Reuters, “Libya Says 'Uncatchable' Veteran Militant Killed in U.S. Strike,” New York Times, June 15, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2015/06/15/world/africa/15reuters-usa-libya.html. U.S. media reported the claims with the caveat that U.S. officials had not yet confirmed Belmokhtar’s death.Reuters, “U.S. Confirms Militant Belmokhtar Was Target of Libya Air Strike,” New York Times, June 15, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2015/06/15/world/africa/15reuters-libya-usa-target.html?_r=0; Eric Schmitt, “U.S. Airstrike in Libya Targets Planner of 2013 Algeria Attack,” New York Times, June 14, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/15/world/middleeast/us-airstrike-targets-qaeda-operative-in-libya.html. Media reports keyed in on Belmokhtar’s connection to the 2013 Algeria attack that killed over 20 people.Reuters, “U.S. Confirms Militant Belmokhtar Was Target of Libya Air Strike,” New York Times, June 15, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2015/06/15/world/africa/15reuters-libya-usa-target.html?_r=0; Eric Schmitt, “U.S. Airstrike in Libya Targets Planner of 2013 Algeria Attack,” New York Times, June 14, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/15/world/middleeast/us-airstrike-targets-qaeda-operative-in-libya.html.  Al-Mourabitoun later denied Belmokhtar had been killed and declared him its official leader in July 2015.Thomas Joscelyn, “Mokhtar Belmokhtar now leads ‘Al Qaeda in West Africa,” Long War Journal, August 13, 2015, http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2015/08/mokhtar-belmokhtar-now-leads-al-qaeda-in-west-africa.php.

Sean Naylor called Belmokhtar’s suspected death a “potentially significant U.S. counterterrorism win.”Sean D. Naylor, “Will the U.S. Go After Mokhtar Belmokhtar’s Network?” Foreign Policy, June 15, 2015, https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/06/15/militants-death-would-present-united-states-with-a-dilemma/. He argued in a June 15, 2015, Foreign Policy piece that Belmokhtar’s reported death offered the United States an opportunity to target al-Mourabitoun before it regroups from the loss.Sean D. Naylor, “Will the U.S. Go After Mokhtar Belmokhtar’s Network?” Foreign Policy, June 15, 2015, https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/06/15/militants-death-would-present-united-states-with-a-dilemma/. Al-Mourabitoun’s alleged pledge of allegiance to ISIS in May 2015Agence France-Presse, “Belmokhtar's jihadist group in N.Africa vows allegiance to IS,” Yahoo News, May 14, 2015, http://news.yahoo.com/al-qaeda-linked-belmokhtar-group-n-africa-claims-001449854.html; Reuters, “Sahara Islamist Leader Belmokhtar Dismisses Islamic State Pledge: Report,” New York Times, May 17, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2015/05/17/world/africa/17reuters-sahara-militants.html. and Belmokhtar’s reported death a month later drew media speculation that ISIS had “eclipsed” al-Mourabitoun’s infamous co-founder.Jared Malsin, “Jihadist Believed Killed By U.S. Air Strike Had Been Eclipsed by ISIS,” Time, June 15, 2015, http://time.com/3921560/mokhtar-belmokhtar-isis/. Time’s Jared Malsin wrote in June 2015 that “ISIS and other groups have come to eclipse Belmokhtar and those loyal to him….”Jared Malsin, “Jihadist Believed Killed By U.S. Air Strike Had Been Eclipsed by ISIS,” Time, June 15, 2015, http://time.com/3921560/mokhtar-belmokhtar-isis/.

The June 2015 strike was not the first time Belmokhtar has been presumed killed. Chadian forces claimed to have killed him in Mali on March 3, 2013.Myra MacDonald, “Belmokhtar burnishes jihadi credentials with Algeria attack,” Reuters, January 17, 2013, http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/17/sahara-crisis-belmokhtar-idUSL6N0AMCX620130117. At the time, Western media eulogized Belmokhtar as a key leader in the global jihadist movement, without whom the movement could collapse. In an analysis piece for Reuters, Myra MacDonald wrote Belmokhtar’s death “would be a serious blow to al Qaeda's efforts to recover its cohesion as a force for global jihad.”Myra MacDonald, “Belmokhtar burnishes jihadi credentials with Algeria attack,” Reuters, January 17, 2013, http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/17/sahara-crisis-belmokhtar-idUSL6N0AMCX620130117. Belmokhtar, she wrote, “proved al Qaeda remained a potent threat to Western interests.”Myra MacDonald, “Belmokhtar burnishes jihadi credentials with Algeria attack,” Reuters, January 17, 2013, http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/17/sahara-crisis-belmokhtar-idUSL6N0AMCX620130117.