Top Al-Qaeda militant killed in US air strike on Libya

A top Islamist militant who ordered a deadly attack on an Algerian gas plant two years ago has been killed in a US air strike in Libya, officials say.

Mokhtar Belmokhtar and other fighters were killed in the raid by aircraft in the eastern city of Ajdabiya, a statement from Libya's government said.

The US has confirmed Belmokhtar was targeted but did not say he had died.

The Pentagon described the strike as successful and that officials were still assessing its results. It would "provide more details as appropriate" said spokesman Colonel Steve Warren.

There have been incorrect reports of Belmokhtar's death in the past.

Born in Algeria, Belmokhtar was a former senior figure in al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), but left to form his own militia.

He gained notoriety with the attack on the In Amenas gas plant in Algeria in 2013, when about 800 people were taken hostage and 40 killed, most of them foreigners, including six Britons and three Americans.

The US has filed terror charges against him and officials said they believed he remained a threat to Western interests.