Robert Fowler’s kidnapper likely killed in strike

• The U.S military launched airstrikes Saturday targeting and likely killing an al-Qaida leader in eastern Libya wanted by the RCMP for the 2009 kidnapping of Canadian diplomats Robert Fowler and Louis Guay.

The Libyan government said warplanes targeted and killed Mokhtar BelMokhtar and several others in the eastern city of Ajdabiya. BelMokhtar had also been charged with leading the attack on a gas plant in Algeria in 2013 that killed at least 35 hostages, including three Americans.

U.S. officials said they are assessing the results of the strike, but Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren said the military believes it was successful and hit the target.

Officials said there were no U.S. personnel on the ground for the assault.

The U. S. filed terrorism charges in 2013 against BelMokhtar in connection with the Algeria attack. Officials have said they believe he remained a threat to U.S. and Western interests. He is an Algerian in his 40s.

The Libyan government said the strike came after consultation with the U.S.

The charges filed against BelMokhtar by federal law enforcement officials in Man- hattan included conspiring to support al-Qaida and use of a weapon of mass destruction. Additional charges of conspiring to take hostages and discharging a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence carry a maximum penalty of death.

At the time, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said BelMokhtar “unleashed a reign of terror years ago, in furtherance of his self-proclaimed goal of waging bloody jihad against the West.” Authorities offered a $5 million reward for information leading to the arrest of BelMokhtar.