The Pentagon is under pressure to use Reaper and Predator UAS to find and kill Mokhtar Belmokhtar, who is believed to have been behind the hostage attack on the gas plant in Algeria.
Belmokhtar, the so-called “jihad prince” who funds his operations with a lucrative trade in smuggling cigarettes and drugs, is believed to have ordered the attack from Islamic rebel-controlled northern Mali.
The initial focus for intensified US operations will be to track down Belmokhtar in northern Mali. They will be aided by French special forces recently deployed to the country.
The US is already drawing up plans to dispatch special forces units to friendly African states and expand its counter-terrorism operations on the continent in response to the siege.
But now there is growing pressure within the administration for the president to authorise UAS attacks on suspected hideouts of al-Qaeda’s north African allies following the audacious terror mission, in which at least one American was among the casualties.
However, there is a growing feeling in Washington that the Islamic insurrection in Mali and the Algerian crisis represent a tipping point for greater US military intervention in the region.
Belmokhtar’s well-funded forces have been bolstered in recent months by an influx of guns and tribal Tuareg mercenaries from Libya following the overthrow of the Gaddafi regime. However much of his funding has come from previous kidnaps of Westerners for ransom.
Source: The Daily Telegraph