It should come as no surprise that a notorious jihadist named Mokhtar Belmokhtar is suspected of ordering the raid on a BP oil field in eastern Algeria and the subsequent kidnapping of dozens. Belmokhtar has been at this game for a while. His career shows that jihadist ideology and criminality can comingle. Belmokhtar’s operations have run the gamut, from cigarette smuggling to gunrunning to kidnappings to outright murder. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t a loyal ideologue to al Qaeda, too.
In late 2012, Belmokhtar, a longtime al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) commander, decided to break away from the al Qaeda affiliate and forge his own group. There was apparently a dispute between Belmokhtar and AQIM’s chief. According to his spokesman, however, Belmokhtar remained loyal to al Qaeda’s senior leadership in South Asia.
