Lederen for terrorangrepet i Algerie på stedet er ikke den enøyde, men en yngre kar ved navn Abu Bara. Det sies nå at han ble drept da den algeriske hæren gikk til angrep.

Det kan være at algirerne visste mer om hva som foregikk, om hvem de sto ovenfor, og hvordan situasjonen inne på anlegget utviklet seg, og at de ble nødt for å gripe inn.

Al Akhbar is now claiming that Abu Bara, leader of the group holding the hostages is among the dead.

The «masked spokesman» of Witnesses in Blood has confirmed this, saying Abu Bara was shot (this from the french version of the site) which rather goes to the Algerian official narrative that this was a ground operation rather than just «bombing».

In a profile of Abu Bara in Al-Akhbar, he is described as an ardent football fan, and particularly devoted to French-Malian one-time Spurs and West Ham striker Frédéric Kanouté.

Born in Algeria in the 70s, he turned to Salafism, the purist form of Islam practised in Saudi Arabia that is shared by many jihadist groups, after serving in the Algerian army. He became prominent for statements supporting the Arab Spring as an attempt to throw off secular dictators such as President Zine al-Abedine Ben Ali in Tunisia, whose people he eulogised. He called for it to be extended to Mauritania, a «French puppet», and Algeria.

He has long-established links with Mokhtar Belmokhtar and co-founded «Witnesses in Blood» with him on December 5 2012, after the falling-out with AQIM. Previously, he had led efforts to win «hearts and minds» of the local population in Azawad, the area of northern Mali seized by al-Qaeda. He is said to speak Arabic, French and some Touareg.

He is short and described as «a fun guy to be around», when he is not in training, when he changes temperament «radically», according to those who know him.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/algeria/9808174/Algeria-hostage-crisis-live.html