Moktar Belmoktar, the Islamist who masterminded the January attack on the BP gas plant in southeastern Algeria which left 37 people dead, has officially joined forced with Mali-based Jihadist group MUJAO, Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa.
In a statement posted on Mauritania's Nouakchott Information Agency website , the newly-united jihadists promised to launch attacks in Egypt.
The statement added they wished "to confront the Zionist campaign against Islam and Muslim" by creating a united front of Muslims from across North Africa.
Belmoktar, who is believed to be in his 40s, broke away from Al-Qaeda after faling out with its leaders, and has for some time now been suspected of working with Islamists based in Mali.
The one-eyed leader, who is thought to have lost his eye when training in Afghanistan, is also believed to be behind the Niger bomb attacks in May, when suicide bombers killed 26 people, and wounded dozens of others.
