Moktar Belmoktar
MASTERMIND: Moktar Belmoktar (left) is the leader of the terrorist group The Masked Brigade, which took dozens of people (right) hostage at a BP plant in eastern Algeria. (
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BAMAKO, Mali — Moktar Belmoktar is known abroad as the man who orchestrated the abduction of scores of foreigners last week at a BP-operated plant in the remote, eastern corner of Algeria, in a raid that led to many of their deaths.
But in the Sahara, at least up until this week, he was, ironically, known as the more pragmatic and less brutal of the commanders of an increasingly successful offshoot of al Qaeda.
The question now is: Has he evolved into an international terrorist every bit as violent as his rivals, or did the Algeria operation go very differently than he intended?
Belmoktar, an Algerian in his 40s, just split from al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, to start his own terrorism group.
Over the past decade, AQIM has kidnapped dozens of foreigners.
Although Belmoktar’s hostages are forced to endure months of privation, those who have dealt directly with him say his cell has never executed a captive.
The notable exception was the 2011 kidnapping of two French nationals from a bar in the capital of Niger — both of whom were killed when the French military tried to rescue them. It’s unclear if the two died from friendly fire, or were executed by their captors.
Belmoktar prefers to trade his hostages for money, experts have said.
The money may explain how he was able to strike out on his own six weeks ago to create The Masked Brigade, whose inaugural attack was launched inside Algeria.
“[Belmoktar] is more along the lines of, ‘How do I negotiate and put extra money in my pocket?’ ” says Rudolph Atallah, the former head of counterterrorism for Africa at the Pentagon. “The others are purists.”
Belmoktar is a contrast to his more ruthless colleague, Abou Zeid, who beheaded a British national and executed a 78-year-old Frenchman in 2010 in retaliation for a raid attempting to save him.
However, long before this week’s attack in Algeria, Belmoktar had also shown brutality.
He’s twice been sentenced to death in absentia in Algeria for the killing of customs officials and border guards.