One-eyed sheikh Mokhtar Belmokhtar alive, says al-Qaeda

Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the “One-Eyed Sheikh” of the Sahara, survived a US air strike intended to kill him, al-Qaeda has said.

Two US F15 fighter jets bombed a house where he was thought to be holding a meeting with local militant jihadists outside the Libyan town of Ajdabiya in the early hours of Sunday morning.

The Libyan government said he had been killed, though the US, in confirming the strike, was more cautious, saying it was asessing intelligence before stating whether he was dead.

Libyan Islamist and jihadi social media forums listed seven local men who had been killed, and detailed their funerals. But they made no mention of Belmokhtar, either to confirm or deny his presence at the house or his death.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/11686244/One-eyed-sheikh-Mokhtar-Belmokhtar-alive-says-al-Qaeda.html