Moktar Belmoktar (AKA Khalid Abu al-Abbas), the leader of the al-Murabitoon branch of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), decried French military involvement in Libya and called on Libyan Muslims to fight.

Moktar Belmoktar (AKA Khalid Abu al-Abbas), the leader of the al-Murabitoon branch of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), reportedly decried the French military involvement in Libya and claimed that French intelligence agents are present in the south of the country.

According to a report, Abu Walid al-Sahrawi, the official for an Islamic State (IS) division in the Greater Sahara region in Africa, called for attacks on the UN mission in Western Sahara, and Western tourists and companies in Morocco.

The al-Murabitoon division of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) claimed the kidnapping of an Australian couple in Burkina Faso, and stated that it will release the captive woman without any conditions.

The Mali-based al-Murabitoon, the group of Mokhtar Belmokhtar, declared in an audio speech its joining al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) released an audio speech from its leader, Abu Musab Abdul Wadud, announcing the joining of the Mali-based al-Murabitoon, and declaring that the raid on the Radisson Blu Hotel attack in Bamako was the first demonstration of this unity.

Al-Murabitoon, the group of Moktar Belmoktar (AKA Khalid Abu al-Abbas) in Mali, announced the appointment of Belmoktar as a leader and called itself “Qaedat al-Jihad in West Africa”.

Al-Murabitoon, the jihadi group to which Moktar Belmoktar (AKA Khalid Abu al-Abbas) belongs, denied reports of his death in a U.S. airstrike and mourned those fighters who were killed in Ajdabiya.

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) denied reports that Moktar Belmoktar (AKA Khalid Abu al-Abbas) was killed in a U.S. airstrike in Libya, and claimed that Libyan fighters were the true target, not Belmoktar.

Ansar al-Shariah in Libya released a statement containing a list of those killed following the June 14, 2015 U.S. airstrikes in the country, notably not including Moktar Belmoktar (AKA Khalid Abu al-Abbas), who was previously declared dead by officials.

An alleged statement attributed to Moktar Belmoktar (AKA Khalid Abu al-Abbas), a member of the Shura (Consultative) Council of al-Murabitoon, rejected the group’s pledge of allegiance to Islamic State (IS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Amidst the deepening rift between al-Qaeda and the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), as well as their respective supporters, al-Murabitoon official Moktar Belmoktar (AKA Khalid Abu al-Abbas) reaffirmed his group’s commitment to al-Qaeda and its leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Al-Murabitoon, the group borne from the merger of the al-Mulathameen Brigade and Tawhid and Jihad in West Africa, reportedly threatened France for its involvement in the war in Mali, and gave a detailed list of its attacks in 2013.

The al-Mulathimeen Brigade, the group of Moktar Belmoktar (AKA Khalid Abu al-Abbas), released the video on the BP oil facility raid in In Aménas, Algeria, in January 2013, and the twin raids in Niger in May 2013, among other attacks.

The Mauritanian news organization Nouakchott News Agency (ANI) reported on an "exclusive" video it received from Moktar Belmoktar's group focusing on the BP oil facility raid in In Aménas, Algeria, in January 2013, and the twin raids in Niger in May 2013.

Moktar Belmoktar reportedly united his group, the al-Mulathameen Brigade, with another faction that split from al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), Tawhid and Jihad Group in West Africa, and named the new organization "al-Murabitoon".

Tawhid and Jihad Group in West Africa reported on its recent military operations in Mali and Niger, including a suicide bombing and raid against the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), and joint attacks with Moktar Belmoktar's al-Mulathameen Brigade in the Nigerien cities of Arlit and Agadez.

A spokesman for the al-Mulathameen Brigade, "Muqarran," and the head of the Shariah Committee of Tawhid and Jihad Group in West Africa, Hamada Ould Muhammad al-Khayri, both reportedly denied claims about the death of Moktar Belmoktar.

The jihadist who earlier rejected reports that the Chadian army killed Moktar Belmoktar (AKA Khalid Abu al-Abbas) in Mali, mocked Chadian and French officials over being unable to determine if a picture of a slain man is Belmoktar, Abdul Hamid Abu Zeid, or someone else.

A jihadist rejected reports that the Chadian army killed Moktar Belmoktar (AKA Khalid Abu al-Abbas) in Mali, claiming that he is alive and will soon release a message.

{Image: Al-Mulathameen Brigade Leader Moktar Belmoktar / Credit: Sahara Media}

Al-Mulathameen Brigade leader Moktar Belmoktar (AKA Khalid Abu al-Abbas) demanded the cessation of French intervention in Mali and offered to exchange American hostages for the release of Omar Abdul Rahman in a video obtained by Sahara Media, a Mauritania-based news organization.