The terrorist formerly known as ‘The Uncatchable’ might just need a new nickname

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NEED TO KNOW:

They called him "the Uncatchable". Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the Algerian terrorist leader who infamously masterminded a 2013 attack on a gas plant that killed nearly 40 foreign hostages, has reportedly been caught at last. Again. 

This time it's the Libyans saying that the ungettable got got. An official statement issued last night reports that Belmokhtar was struck by bombs dropped from US fighter jets over the east of Libya. According to the country's interim government, the airstrike killed the militant leader along with "a number" of other jihadis. The Pentagon has confirmed that it was aiming for Belmokhtar, but says it's awaiting forensic proof before it can confirm whether or not it hit its target.

If it did, it just wiped out one of the world's most wanted men. Belmokhtar had – or has – not one but two death sentences on his head in his home country, as well as a $5 million bounty issued by the US. The one-eyed bandit (seriously) trained as a teenager with Al Qaeda in Afghanistan before returning to wreak havoc across Northwest Africa in the name of jihad. His most notorious exploit, the attack on the In Amenas gas plant in southern Algeria, saw his "Signed in Blood" battalion take scores of people hostage, including foreign employees from all over the world. Thirty-eight of them ended up dead. 

All that has placed Belmokhtar pretty high on several governments' to-do lists, though so far none has managed to prove that darn nickname wrong. In March 2013, Chadian soldiers claimed to have killed him in Mali, even producing pictures of what they believed was his body. It wasn't. Belmokhtar celebrated his non-dead-ness by plotting attacks in Mali and Niger and praising the Charlie Hebdo murders in France.

Did US warplanes finally end the manhunt? Watch this space. 

WANT TO KNOW:

Terrorist commanders may be dab hands at evading death, but they don't mind sending their foot soldiers to gory ends. Take Talha Asmal, for instance, a young British national killed in Iraq this weekend after he reportedly blew up his own vehicle in the service of the Islamic State. He was 17.

Asmal was one of a quartet of suicide bombers who killed themselves for the caliphate. The others were German, Kuwaiti and Palestinian. Their deaths – four of many – speak to the power of the extremist group to persuade people from all over the world to join its ranks. While the westerners who travel abroad to carry out their deadly missions tend to attract the most attention, some IS recruits kill for their cause at home.

That's the case in Saudi Arabia, where authorities find themselves confronted with a string of recent terrorist attacks carried out by their own citizens. The suspects are people radicalized by extremists who know exactly how to exploit their religious feelings, political frustrations and personal vulnerabilities. 

How do you fight such dangerous ideology? With more ideology, of course. Saudi Arabia's authorities are engaged in a vast deradicalization program that sees former IS recruits given counseling on religion, social life and politics with the aim of restoring their faith in the Saudi state. And since ideology doesn't pay the bills, the deradicalization center also offers vocational skills and follow-up help with rent and jobs. (And a pool. There's a realy nice pool.)

Is it working? Find out here. 

STRANGE BUT TRUE:

We never thought war crimes allegations could be turned into a farce. But by Jove, Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir has only gone and done it.

Bashir, you'll remember, is wanted on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes that the International Criminal Court accuses him of committing during the conflict in Darfur. He's avoided arrest so far by limiting his travel plans to countries that aren't party to the ICC. South Africa, however, is – and that's where Bashir has spent the past few days at an African Union summit. 

The South African government said he had immunity. Enter a human rights group who petitioned a judge for Bashir's arrest. The court yesterday barred Bashir from leaving the country until it made a final ruling today. 

So where in the world is Omar al-Bashir? Can that be him aboard a plane back to Sudan? It surely can! According to Sudanese officials, their president blithely disregarded the court order to stay in South Africa and caught a flight to Khartoum this morning. He must be laughing all the way to non-prosecution – even if no one else is. 

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