The US Department of Defence had earlier on Sunday the US military conducted a counterterrorism strike against an al-Qaeda-associated target in Libya on Saturday night, but were assessing results before providing more details.
"The Libyan government in the east of Libya confirms that the US fighter jets conducted air strikes last night in a mission which resulted in the death of the terrorist Belmokhtar," the internationally recognised government based in Tobruk said.
Sources at the City told The Bloom Gist "They are not saying a great deal in terms of details here in Washington. On the record the defence department has said that an air strike was carried out on an al-Qaeda-affiliated group described interestingly as a mid-level target."
"More details have come from the Libyan government. The strike apparently took place in the east of the country near Tobruk, and according to Libyan news websites it was aimed at Ansar al-Sharia group where several commanders of the group were meeting.
'Mr Marlboro'
Belmokhtar was a leader of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, but later split from the group in 2012 to form his own militia, called Those Who Sign With Blood, that later became al-Mourabitoun.
He has been involved in cigarette smuggling and one of his nom de guerre is "Mr Marlboro". He has also been associated with various groups involved in attacks on governments in the region including,
