General: US Ground Troops Possible In Iraq

America's top military leader has told Congress that US ground forces could be deployed once more in Iraq.

Army General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a Senate panel that he would make the recommendation if the current US campaign to defeat Islamic State (IS) militants fails. 

"To be clear, if we reach the point where I believe our advisers should accompany Iraqi troops on attacks against specific ISIL targets, I will recommend that to the president," said Gen Dempsey, using another name for the terrorist group.

Pressed to expand, he said he "would go back to the president and make a recommendation that may include the use of ground forces".

Tuesday's Senate hearing was disrupted by anti-war protesters

President Barack Obama has previously said there will no combat role for American forces in Iraq.

Gen Dempsey spoke after American warplanes stepped up the offensive against IS targets in Iraq, pounding targets southwest of Baghdad in two raids on Sunday and Monday.

US personnel in Iraq are currently said to be serving purely in a combat advisory role to help Iraqi troops tackle the IS forces.

Gen Dempsey said that if Iraqi forces launched a major offensive to recapture Mosul, he might want US troops to accompany the Iraqi troops or provide close combat advice.

Aid volunteer Alan Henning (centre right) pictured before he left for Syria

He also told senators the US was ready to strike the extremists in Syria.

"This will not look like 'shock and awe' because that is not how ISIL is organised," he said, "but it will be persistent and sustainable."

Gen Dempsey appeared alongside Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel, who warned the war would not be easy or brief.

"Victory is when we complete the mission of degrading, destroying and defeating ISIL," the Pentagon chief testified.

The Senate hearing was repeatedly disrupted by anti-war protesters.

British hostage David Haines was beheaded by his captors

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said the UK Government was doing all it could to save British hostage Alan Henning, and warned it would not be deterred from its goal of "crushing" the Islamic State fighters behind his abduction.

Mr Henning, an aid convoy volunteer, appeared at the end of an IS video released on Saturday in which fellow UK hostage David Haines was killed, with a threat that he would be next.

Speaking to Sky News, Mr Hammond said he understood Mr Henning's family were "going through hell", and that the Government was doing everything possible to protect him.

An Islamic State gunman in Raqqa, Syria

But he said the SAS, the elite British regiment, had not been sent in to rescue Mr Henning because it was not clear exactly where he was being held.

Mr Hammond was speaking after a summit in Paris where world leaders agreed to provide military aid to fight the extremist network.

The meeting of 30 countries agreed to "support the Iraqi government by any means necessary - including military assistance".

US Secretary of State John Kerry has been urging allies - especially Middle East and Gulf states - to show a united front, and one American official said several Arab countries had offered to join the airstrikes.

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Politician Dumped In Skip By Angry Crowd

Ukraine Ratifies EU Pact Amid Fragile Ceasefire

Updated: 2:30pm UK, Tuesday 16 September 2014

Ukrainian MPs have voted to strengthen the country's political and economic ties with the European Union - the very issue which first sparked the crisis last year.

Before the ratification of the agreement, President Petro Poroshenko told parliament that Ukrainians who lost their lives in the protests and subsequent fighting in the east "died not only for their motherland - they gave up their lives for us to take a dignified place among the European family".

Shying away from such a pact resulted in the ousting of then president Victor Yanukovych in November 2013, who instead chose to establish stronger ties with Russia.

It also led to the annexation of Crimea by Russia and an ongoing five-month war with pro-Russian separatists which has claimed the lives of more than 2,600 people.

Earlier, MPs also agreed to grant greater autonomy to the rebel regions in eastern Ukraine, and an amnesty for most of those involved in the fighting as part of a fragile ceasefire which has repeatedly been broken since it came into effect 10 days ago.

Three people were killed and five wounded when their homes were struck by shells overnight in the eastern city of Donetsk.

Reports of the latest fatalities of the crisis came as Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu talked of a need to send extra troops to Crimea because of the increase in fighting.

"The deployment of proper and self-sufficient forces in the direction of Crimea is one of (our) top priorities," Russian news agency Itar-Tass reported him saying.

"The situation in Ukraine has escalated sharply and the presence of foreign military has increased in the immediate vicinity of our borders."

The chain of events since last November has provoked the worst crisis between Russia and the West since the Cold War, with the United States and its Western allies imposing sanctions against Moscow.

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Nigerian Troops Sentenced To Death For Mutiny

Twelve Nigerian soldiers have been sentenced to death by firing squad for mutiny in a part of the country battling extremists.

The soldiers were found guilty by a military tribunal in the country's capital of Abuja following the incident in the northeast city of Maiduguri in May.

According to the tribunal's head Major General Chukweuka Okonkwo, the soldiers were guilty of "obstructing the evacuation of their dead colleagues who were killed in an ambush on their way from an operation in Chibok, Borno State".

Islamic extremists Boko Haram kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls in Chibok in April. The girls remain prisoners.

The 12 soldiers were also convicted of trying to kill the commanding officer of the army's Seventh Division, which is the main force fighting the militants.

According to a statement from the nine-member tribunal, the soldiers had shot at the official car of General Officer Commanding Major General Ahmed Mohammed between May 13 and 14.

Nigerian soldiers stand guard following a blast in Abuja earlier this year

They had reportedly "lost discipline", throwing stones at the officer as he arrived at Maimalari Barracks, Maiduguri, and shooting holes in his car. The officer was forced to dive for cover as they shot at him but he was not injured.

The soldiers were said to be angry at a lack of equipment and support after a convoy of their colleagues was ambushed by Boko Haram.

Court president Chukwuemeka Okonkwo said the sentences were subject to confirmation by Nigeria's military authorities but there was no doubt about the seriousness of the offence.

Five other soldiers were acquitted of the charges. They and the 12 found guilty had all denied the charges.

Nigeria's war against the Boko Haram began in 2009 and since then the anti-government militants have killed thousands of people, and recently declared much of the northeast to be "Islamic territory".

But a determined enemy is not the only obstacle facing Nigerian troops, with poor pay and lack of equipment also contributing to extremely low morale.

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Raqqa: Islamic State's Menacing Power Base

Raqqa in northern Syria is Islamic State's power base and the focus of international efforts to defeat the Islamic extremists and rescue Western hostages.

The city - effectively the capital of the IS "caliphate" - is almost completely inaccessible to journalists and Westerners - but information can be gleaned from IS propaganda videos, residents who have managed to flee and an underground resistance network that posts videos and reports online.

:: Raqqa is the highly organised capital of the jihadists' Islamic caliphate

IS captured Raqqa amid fierce fighting in May 2013 but has maintained a hold on the city by setting up a functioning government and public services. Military operations and civilian administration are run separately, with fighters and employees getting a salary from the "Muslim Financial House" department. IS has claimed the poor are effectively paid benefits, while taxes are imposed on the wealthy and prices are kept low in the markets. Foreign experts have been recruited to run ministries - a Tunisian with a PhD in charge of telecoms, an Egyptian engineer serving as oil minister.

:: The city is the centre of the search for Jihadi John

Raqqa is believed to be where IS is holding some 20 international hostages, including Briton Alan Henning, and intelligence efforts to save them are focused on the city. Experts and a small resistance movement within the city have matched up photos and video footage to pinpoint the location on the outskirts of the city where they believe James Foley was beheaded. They suggest the killings took place on open ground near a cemetery, not far from the city's Alltihad University.

:: IS is thought to be using a network of tunnels under the city

The hunt for the hostages and their captors has been frustrated due to the suspected use by IS of a network of underground tunnels to move around the city. IS is believed to move the hostages between safe locations regularly and the group's leaders, including Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, rarely stay in one place for more than a day or two.

:: Foreign fighters have "flooded" the city

A jihadist boasted to Reuters this month that Raqqa was welcoming 1,000 new IS volunteers every three days, many of them from abroad. Fighters with South African, French, Dutch, Australian and of course British accents have appeared in videos or on social media praising life under the Islamic State. The International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation claims Glaswegian Aqsa Mahmood is a key figure in the al Khanssaa brigade, a female militia set up to punish women for "non-Islamic" behaviour.

:: The Hisbah police keep the people in check

The hisbah - clad in a distinctive uniform of white thobe with black waistcoats and black caps - patrol the streets with Kalashnikovs slung over their backs, enforcing strict Sharia law in the previously cosmopolitan city. They police everything from the price of beef in markets to female dress and follow up on reports of residents suspected of using drugs, alcohol and cigarettes. Attendance at prayers is rigidly enforced, with jihadists boasting of emptying once busy markets five times a day. Anyone who crosses the hisbah faces immediate imprisonment and punishment according to Sharia law - from whipping for alcohol sellers to public execution for drug users.

:: Children are being drawn into the IS cause

Raqqa is the IS base for preparing the next generation of jihadists. Islamic education groups are held in mosques and festivals have been held to encourage youngsters to sign up to the cause. Children are shown videos of beheadings to inure them to violence and warn them of the consequences of resisting the jihadists. Warda Ali, a female resident who fled Raqqa after resisting IS, told US broadcaster NPR how parents - keen to please their new rulers - brought their children to the town square to watch public beheadings.

:: Resistance - "Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently"

A small group of activists have been risking their lives to reveal a true picture of the grim conditions imposed by IS. Under the slogan "Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently," they post videos and photos of public executions and other punishments meted out by the Islamists, as well as possible locations for IS training camps and the executions of Western hostages. IS has condemned the activists as "enemies of the lord" and reportedly executed one, Motaz Billah, after tracing him through Facebook.

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The Day I Came Face To Face With Islamic State

I was told to wait on the side of a road outside a mosque in the Syrian city of Aleppo. An Emir speaking in the mosque would see me after prayers.

As hundreds of worshippers streamed through the open doors, a young man with long, black hair emerged surrounded by the most thuggish bunch of gunmen I had ever come across in Syria, and that takes some doing.

They fired up matt black cars, jeeps and trucks with anti-aircraft guns welded to the floor. He stopped briefly and shook my hand while my trusted translator introduced me.

He never took his eyes off me as he was asked if we could film in his area. He nodded and told us to follow them.

The group has made rapid territorial advances across Iraq and Syria

His convoy screamed down the road past their headquarters and crossed two blocks into the territory of another gang. The trucks split into sections and they surrounded a building.

Then they started firing. Hundreds if not thousands of rounds smashing through doors and windows, brick work pulverised into dust, walls collapsing. If there was anyone inside they died. It was brutal. I had just met ISIS.

It was in the early months of 2013 and ISIS was growing stronger by the week. I would regularly come across them or other groups who would soon join them, over the next few months.

It soon became clear to me and my translators and guides that the usual dangers of travelling through Syria that I had been dealing with since the winter of 2011 had got a lot worse.

Stories of violent roaming checkpoints, abductions, killings and the imposition of strict Sharia law in previously relaxed secular areas began to grow.

British aid worker David Haines was taken hostage and killed by the group

We heard of local people, aid workers and journalists, some of them my friends, being taken. But we had good relations with the fledgling ISIS leadership and by keeping a very low profile and with a network of drivers who knew every road we managed to avoid the checkpoints and disappear into the teeming streets of Aleppo.

In a school room converted into a court another Emir, Abu Al Homam, ruled on local disputes. Handing out judgements with a ruthless uncompromising efficiency.

He told me they did not execute people although he insisted he could. At that stage he said cutting people's hands off was enough to instil order over Aleppo's growing problem of crime.

But as I asked about a beheading we had been told of, one of my team saw the Emir's adviser shaking his head indicating that he should not admit to ordering the death penalty. Later locals told me it was common.

Abu Al Homam was not strictly speaking ISIS at that point. But he talked of the creation of a caliphate in Syria and Iraq and warned Western governments not to interfere in the business of Muslims.

All sounds pretty familiar now, beheadings and caliphates and the like.

The group has also taken taxi driver Alan Henning hostage

With remarkable speed ISIS grew. From Al Raqqha to the east of Aleppo, with access to oil fields and out of the reach of the Syrian government forces, they stabilised, launched their takeover of much of northern Iraq and changed their name to Islamic State.

While some of the myriad jihadist groups in Syria are fighting IS they have become the pre-eminent power. Their ruthlessness and total disregard for reasonable norms have surprised everyone.

A senior intelligence officer in Iraq explained the difference between IS and even al Qaeda's most extreme members.

"With AQ I could rationally argue that what they did in beheading a person was against the Koran. It might take days, but they would listen and often they would accept it and agree it was wrong," he told me.

"IS are totally different. They do not care. They are bloodthirsty and pure evil. They need to be destroyed as an organisation and then killed," he added.

Militants have released videos depicting mass executions

For people like me who have worked so hard reporting the uprising in Syria against the regime of Bashar al Assad, this is all very depressing. Whatever anyone says, the uprising was real. It was not a jihadi-inspired takeover. But in many ways it is now.

Travelling was always dangerous, but with IS spies in areas they don't control and desperate people prepared to hand over foreigners to IS for cash it is probably too dangerous to go there right now.

Last year I set out for Al Raqqah. A long, dangerous trip with multiple car swaps. Finally we reached a house and were told to wait for people in the city to fetch us.

They never arrived, but after a day some other rebels did and offered to take us in. We thought long and hard. To go would break all my own safety rules, but I was tempted. Had they driven the road? Was it okay?

After hours of talk they admitted they had not been to the city in four days. I declined their invitation and they waved to us as they headed off.

An hour down the road they drove into a checkpoint. All four were killed on the side of the road. These are the days of IS.

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Ukraine Ratifies EU Pact Amid Fragile Ceasefire

Ukrainian MPs have voted to strengthen the country's political and economic ties with the European Union - the very issue which first sparked the crisis last year.

Before the ratification of the agreement, President Petro Poroshenko told parliament that Ukrainians who lost their lives in the protests and subsequent fighting in the east "died not only for their motherland - they gave up their lives for us to take a dignified place among the European family".

Shying away from such a pact resulted in the ousting of then president Victor Yanukovych in November 2013, who instead chose to establish stronger ties with Russia.

Mr Poroshenko holds aloft the signed landmark agreement with the EU

It also led to the annexation of Crimea by Russia and an ongoing five-month war with pro-Russian separatists which has claimed the lives of more than 2,600 people.

Earlier, MPs also agreed to grant greater autonomy to the rebel regions in eastern Ukraine, and an amnesty for most of those involved in the fighting as part of a fragile ceasefire which has repeatedly been broken since it came into effect 10 days ago.

Three people were killed and five wounded when their homes were struck by shells overnight in the eastern city of Donetsk.

A steel factory destroyed by the shelling overnight in Donetsk

Reports of the latest fatalities of the crisis came as Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu talked of a need to send extra troops to Crimea because of the increase in fighting.

"The deployment of proper and self-sufficient forces in the direction of Crimea is one of (our) top priorities," Russian news agency Itar-Tass reported him saying.

"The situation in Ukraine has escalated sharply and the presence of foreign military has increased in the immediate vicinity of our borders."

The chain of events since last November has provoked the worst crisis between Russia and the West since the Cold War, with the United States and its Western allies imposing sanctions against Moscow.

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Another Child Abuse Claim Against NFL Star

An NFL player suspected of assaulting his child is alleged to have physically abused another son a year earlier, it has emerged.

Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson has been charged over allegedly striking his four-year-old son with a tree branch this summer.

In June 2013 another incident is alleged to have occurred while a different son was visiting Peterson in Woodlands, Texas, reported by CBS Houston affiliate KHOU-TV.

The boy reportedly suffered a head wound that resulted in a scar above his right eye. Police were aware of the allegation but no charges were filed.

The child's mother apparently reported the incident to child protection services.

Peterson's attorney Rusty Hardin responded to the latest report by saying: "This is not a new allegation, it's one that is unsubstantiated and was shopped around to authorities in two states over a year ago and nothing came of it.

Peterson is one of Minnesota Vikings' star players

"An adult witness adamantly insists Adrian did nothing inappropriate with his son. There is no ongoing or new investigation."

The Vikings said they were aware of the allegation when Peterson was reinstated to the team.

He had been suspended for last Sunday's game against the New England Patriots.

The suspension followed his indictment before a grand jury for allegedly spanking his son with the tree branch.

Peterson earlier released a statement defending himself.

"I am not a perfect son. I am not a perfect husband. I am not a perfect parent, but I am, without a doubt, not a child abuser," he said.

The footballer is a running back for the Vikings

Peterson is due to appear in court in Montgomery County, Texas, on October 8 over the alleged incident this summer.

He faces charges of reckless or negligent injury to a child.

Mr Hardin said Peterson "used his judgment as a parent to discipline his son".

He said that Peterson regretted the incident but never intended to harm the boy.

The footballer is fully cooperating with authorities, Mr Hardin added.

Meanwhile, the Radisson hotel chain has said that it was temporarily withdrawing its sponsorship of the Vikings due to its "long-standing commitment to the protection of children".

The NFL has appointed three consultants who will work with teams on issues related to domestic violence and sexual assault.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who has been under pressure following the suspension of Ray Rice for allegedly punching his girlfriend, sent a memo to teams announcing the appointments on Monday.

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Ebola: US Sending 3,000 Troops To West Africa

The US is sending up to 3,000 troops to co-ordinate the response to the ebola outbreak in West Africa, as health experts warn it is "unparalleled in modern times".

The virus has claimed more than 2,400 lives this year - mostly in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

On a visit to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, President Barack Obama is set to outline measures to prop up health services in areas overwhelmed by the epidemic.

Ahead of the announcement, unnamed administration officials revealed they would build 17 health care facilities in the region, each with 100 beds.

The US has already spent $100m (£62m) in response to the outbreak

The US will attempt to train 500 medical staff a week, provide health kits to hundreds of thousands of homes and educate communities on how to tackle the problem.

The cost of the aid will be $500m (£308m), the officials said.

It is expected to take two weeks to get US personnel on the ground.

United Nations officials have warned the outbreak requires a $1bn response to keep its spread within "tens of thousands" of cases.

Bruce Aylward from the WHO warned the outbreak was 'unparalleled'

Speaking in Geneva, World Health Organisation Assistant Director General Bruce Aylward said: "Quite frankly, ladies and gentlemen, this health crisis we're facing is unparalleled in modern times.

"We don't know where the numbers are going on this."

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will launch a "global response coalition" in New York on Thursday.

The virus, which has also reached Nigeria and Senegal, is spread through direct contact with the bodily fluids of sick patients. There is no vaccine or approved treatment.

Four Americans have been or are being treated for ebola in the US after evacuation from Africa.

US ebola victims Dr Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol

The country's intervention follows demands for a stepped-up international response.

The US ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, has called for an emergency meeting of the Security Council, warning the virus could "set the countries of West Africa back a generation".

US efforts will include medics and corpsmen, engineers to help build treatment facilities and logistics specialists to assist in patient transportation.

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Syrian Politician Warns US Over IS Action

The Day I Came Face To Face With Islamic State

Updated: 7:53am UK, Tuesday 16 September 2014

By Stuart Ramsay, Chief Correspondent

I was told to wait on the side of a road outside a mosque in the Syrian city of Aleppo. An Emir speaking in the mosque would see me after prayers.

As hundreds of worshippers streamed through the open doors, a young man with long, black hair emerged surrounded by the most thuggish bunch of gunmen I had ever come across in Syria, and that takes some doing.

They fired up matt black cars, jeeps and trucks with anti-aircraft guns welded to the floor. He stopped briefly and shook my hand while my trusted translator introduced me.

He never took his eyes off me as he was asked if we could film in his area. He nodded and told us to follow them.

His convoy screamed down the road past their headquarters and crossed two blocks into the territory of another gang. The trucks split into sections and they surrounded a building.

Then they started firing. Hundreds if not thousands of rounds smashing through doors and windows, brick work pulverised into dust, walls collapsing. If there was anyone inside they died. It was brutal. I had just met ISIS.

It was in the early months of 2013 and ISIS was growing stronger by the week. I would regularly come across them or other groups who would soon join them, over the next few months.

It soon became clear to me and my translators and guides that the usual dangers of travelling through Syria that I had been dealing with since the winter of 2011 had got a lot worse.

Stories of violent roaming checkpoints, abductions, killings and the imposition of strict Sharia law in previously relaxed secular areas began to grow.

We heard of local people, aid workers and journalists, some of them my friends, being taken. But we had good relations with the fledgling ISIS leadership and by keeping a very low profile and with a network of drivers who knew every road we managed to avoid the checkpoints and disappear into the teeming streets of Aleppo.

In a school room converted into a court another Emir, Abu Al Homam, ruled on local disputes. Handing out judgements with a ruthless uncompromising efficiency.

He told me they did not execute people although he insisted he could. At that stage he said cutting people's hands off was enough to instil order over Aleppo's growing problem of crime.

But as I asked about a beheading we had been told of, one of my team saw the Emir's adviser shaking his head indicating that he should not admit to ordering the death penalty. Later locals told me it was common.

Abu Al Homam was not strictly speaking ISIS at that point. But he talked of the creation of a caliphate in Syria and Iraq and warned Western governments not to interfere in the business of Muslims.

All sounds pretty familiar now, beheadings and caliphates and the like.

With remarkable speed ISIS grew. From Al Raqqha to the east of Aleppo, with access to oil fields and out of the reach of the Syrian government forces, they stabilised, launched their takeover of much of northern Iraq and changed their name to Islamic State.

While some of the myriad jihadist groups in Syria are fighting IS they have become the pre-eminent power. Their ruthlessness and total disregard for reasonable norms have surprised everyone.

A senior intelligence officer in Iraq explained the difference between IS and even al Qaeda's most extreme members.

"With AQ I could rationally argue that what they did in beheading a person was against the Koran. It might take days, but they would listen and often they would accept it and agree it was wrong," he told me.

"IS are totally different. They do not care. They are bloodthirsty and pure evil. They need to be destroyed as an organisation and then killed," he added.

For people like me who have worked so hard reporting the uprising in Syria against the regime of Bashar al Assad, this is all very depressing. Whatever anyone says, the uprising was real. It was not a jihadi-inspired takeover. But in many ways it is now.

Travelling was always dangerous, but with IS spies in areas they don't control and desperate people prepared to hand over foreigners to IS for cash it is probably too dangerous to go there right now.

Last year I set out for Al Raqqah. A long, dangerous trip with multiple car swaps. Finally we reached a house and were told to wait for people in the city to fetch us.

They never arrived, but after a day some other rebels did and offered to take us in. We thought long and hard. To go would break all my own safety rules, but I was tempted. Had they driven the road? Was it okay?

After hours of talk they admitted they had not been to the city in four days. I declined their invitation and they waved to us as they headed off.

An hour down the road they drove into a checkpoint. All four were killed on the side of the road. These are the days of IS.

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'Bloodshed' Threat Night Before Algeria Attack

Belmokhtar: Profile Of Mr Marlboro

Updated: 12:54am UK, Sunday 03 March 2013

By Sam Kiley, Middle East Correspondent

He was known as Mr Marlboro because of his cigarette smuggling. The French intelligence service called him "The Uncatchable".

Born in central Algeria in 1972, Mokhtar Belmokhtar grew obsessed with Jihadi ideology in his teens. At 19 he volunteered to fight alongside the mujahedeen in Afghanistan.

He missed most of the fighting there as the Soviets withdrew as he arrived but he did encounter senior members of what was to become al Qaeda - receiving training in a Jalalabad base.

In the early 1990s he returned to Algeria to join Islamic militant groups. He served them as a quartermaster - rapidly rose to dominate operations in the south of the country during the Algerian civil war.

Described by the then head of France's Territorial Surveillance Directorate (Direction de la surveillance du territoire – DST) as Algeria's link to al Qaeda, Belmokhtar maintained strong links to the movement's core in Pakistan.

But he was a vital element in the expansion of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). A franchise of the Jihadi movement AQIM was seen as the poorly performing franchise during the last decade. 

But Belmokhtar forged links with Tuareg rebels in the south Sahara from Mali to Niger and into Mauritania.

He rapidly expanded a criminal empire to fund his political and military operations from smuggling cigarettes, diamonds, drugs and people into Europe.

He further stuffed his war chest with funds from hostage taking operations. In 2003 he was implicated in the kidnapping of 32 Europeans in the Sahara.

In 2008, he took control of negotiations for the release of two Austrian hostages. And in 2009 took control of two Canadians kidnapped in Mali and released by him for allegedly £3m and freedom for several of his associates from Malian jails.

Robert Fowler was a UN special envoy in Mali when he was kidnapped and then handed on to Belmokhtar.

He described the man who has now projected himself on to the world stage from the relative obscurity of the Saharan wastes.

"He is very cold. Very business-like. I was afraid for my life all the time. I was afraid for my life when I woke up in the morning and when I went to sleep at night. He is a very serious player," Mr Fowler told ABC News in the US.

Belmokhtar's movement got a huge boost from the collapse of the Libyan regime of Muammar Gaddafi.

The Tuareg fighters he had employed from Niger, Mali and Chad, fled his service carrying with them vast stockpiles of heavy weapons and bringing many years of combat experience.

This influx of new weapons and fighters allowed for al Qaeda-related groups to capture much of northern Mali and establish closer links between groups from Mauritania to Somalia and into the Arabian Peninsula.

Some intelligence agencies believe that Belmokhtar fell out with the AQIM leader in the north of Africa, Abdulmalek Droukel.

But al Qaeda is a franchise. Its strength lies in fragmentation. A devolved series of groups are harder to infiltrate or destroy than one large organisation.

Al Qaeda expert Aaron Zelin describes this as "controlled fragmentation".

French intelligence services had been trying to kill or capture Belmokhtar for more than a decade. They believed that he had the capacity to mobilise French citizens with their roots in North Africa for terror operations inside Europe.

After France launched its war against Islamists in Mali, many of whom are connected to Belmokhtar, his organisation which calls itself "The Masked Ones", vowed to continue attacks against western targets in Africa and beyond.

Belmokhtar's attack in Algeria meant his name was heard more widely as his movement posed a strategic threat to Europe's energy supplies.

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