[MAGHAREBIA] The top aide to terrorist Mokhtar Belmokhtar was killed by French forces in northern Mali, ANI reported on Thursday (November 21st).| Yet another job opening for a bright, ambitious, hard-working, beheading number three... |
Jouleibib was the deputy commander of the "Signed in Blood" battalion, which grabbed credit for the deadly siege at Algeria's In Amenas gas complex and the twin suicide boom-mobileings in Niger in May.
La Belle France's chief of defence staff in Gay Paree last Thursday said only that French forces had "neutralised" several al-Qaeda members in northern Mali. A regional security source in Mali, however, confirmed to AFP the death of Belmokhtar's "right-hand man".
"He was responsible for the management of the group. It is truly a blow to Belmokhtar," the source added.
French forces also reportedly seized a cell phone and a computer belonging to Jouleibib.