A Libyan anti-terrorism security force says authorities have arrested a wife of the one-eyed militant leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar, once considered the most dangerous man in the Sahara and formerly a top al-Qaeda figure in North Africa.
Tuesday’s statement from the force says one of Belmokhtar’s wives, Asma Kadousi, was arrested on Saturday along with a female companion en route from the militant stronghold of Darna, an eastern city, where she gave birth to a baby. Kadousi was reportedly heading to the central province of Joufra.
The statement says Belmokhtar is believed to be in southern Libya.
Belmokhtar is linked to the 2013 attack on a Western-owned gas facility in Algeria that killed scores of hostages, including Americans. A US drone strike last year failed to kill him in eastern Libya.
