by Our Foreign Desk

THE US Air Force confirmed yesterday that weekend air strikes in Libya had targeted the leader of the 2013 attack on an Algerian gas plant.

Spokesman Colonel Steve Warren said on Sunday that the Pentagon was confident that a bombing raid in Ajdabiya, some 530 miles east of the Libyan capital Tripoli, had killed Mokhtar Belmokhtar.

He had been accused of leading the 2013 attack on the Tigantourine gas facility near In Amenas in which 35 hostages, including three US citizens, were killed.

Speaking at the Paris Air Show, US Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James was more cautious about the outcome of the raid.

“Indeed the target of this operation was Mokhtar Belmokhtar, who of course has a long history of terror with al-Qaida affiliates,” she said.

“The impact of the raid is still being assessed. I have absolute confidence in our people and the intelligence, but this is not exact science. So this is why I would just have to say ‘stand by’.”

Ms James said the attack was carried out by F-15E strike fighter planes using precision weapons and that “enormous care” had been taken to avoid hurting civilians.

An earlier statement by US authorities said that multiple 500lb bombs had been dropped.

However, a source close to Libyan militants said that the raid had missed Mr Belmokhtar and had in fact killed four members of Ansar Shariah, a group blamed for the 2012 attack on the US consulate in Beghazi that killed ambassador Chris Stevens and three other US citizens.