Terrorist wanted in Algerian attack charged in New York

Federal prosecutors in New York on Friday charged a one-eyed veteran Islamist fighter with crimes related to a brazen attack on a gas facility in Algeria earlier this year that left 37 hostages dead, including three Americans, CNN reported. 

Mokhtar Belmokhtar was charged on various conspiracy counts including hostage-taking, kidnapping, providing material support to al Qaeda, and conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern district of New York. He is currently at large.

While there was no elaboration from federal prosecutors on why the charges against a non-U.S. citizen, stemming from an attack in Alergia, were filed in New York, the attack resulted in deaths of Americans.

"Mokhtar Belmokhtar unleashed a reign of terror years ago, in furtherance of his self-proclaimed goal of waging bloody jihad against the West," U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a release from the Justice Department. "His efforts culminated in a five-day siege that left dozens dead, including three Americans, and hundreds of others fearing for their lives."

Belmokhtar is the founder of the Signed-in-Blood Battalion, also known as the al-Mulathamun Battalion. The group claimed responsibility for the January attack.