{{An al-Qaeda-linked group led by Algerian militant Mokhtar Belmokhtar says it has merged with another group to take revenge against France for its military campaign in Mali.}}<\/p>\n
Belmokhtar’s Masked Men Brigade and the Mali-based Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (Mujao) have formed Al-Murabitoun, a statement said.<\/p>\n
In July, the US offered a $5m reward for Belmokhtar’s capture.<\/p>\n
He is accused of masterminding a deadly siege at an Algerian plant in January.<\/p>\n
The US has charged him with hostage-taking, kidnapping and conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction.<\/p>\n
Three US citizens were among at least 37 hostages killed when Algerian troops stormed the Tigantourine plant to end the siege.<\/p>\n
In May, Mujao and Belmokhtar’s group jointly carried out twin suicide attacks in Niger on a military camp and a French-run uranium mine, killing 25 people.<\/p>\n
“Your brothers in Mujao and Al-Mulathameen [Masked Men Brigade] announce their union and fusion in one movement called Al-Murabitoun to unify the ranks of Muslims around the same goal, from the Nile to the Atlantic,” the groups said in a statement published by Mauritanian news agency ANI, which is often used by the militants to communicate.<\/p>\n
Command of Al-Murabitoun, an Arabic phrase meaning “the sentinels”, has been ceded to “another personality”, the statement added.<\/p>\n
He is believed to be a non-Algerian jihadi who fought in Afghanistan, ANI reported.<\/p>\n
{{‘Stronger than ever’}}<\/p>\n
The jihadist movement in the region was now “stronger than ever” and it would “rout” France and its allies, the statement said.<\/p>\n
France led an offensive in January to recapture northern Mali from the militants, who had ruled the north for about eight months after taking advantage of the chaos caused by a coup.<\/p>\n
They have since retreated to their desert hide-outs and towns and cities are now under the control of Malian and UN troops.<\/p>\n
A 12,600-strong UN force is being deployed to Mali, as France begins to pull out its 3,000 troops.<\/p>\n
Belmokhtar was a former leading figure in al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) but he later formed the Masked Men Brigade, which is also known as the Signed-in-Blood Battalion and the Khaled Abu al-Abbas Brigade.<\/p>\n
Mujao was formed in 2011 to spread jihad across West Africa and it believed to be a well-disciplined group.<\/p>\n
It is thought to be led by a Mauritanian ethnic Tuareg Ahmed Ould Amer, who goes by the nom de guerre “Ahmed Telmissi”,media reports.<\/p>\n
AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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