Mokhtar Belmokhtar, al-Qaeda's man in the Sahara?

The daring abductionof dozensofforeign workers at a natural gas plant in Algeria earlier this week hasrenewed attention onMokhtar Belmokhtar,the one-eyed,al-Qaeda-linked commander in the Sahara who was thealleged mastermind behind the attack.

While his name may not be familiar to the general public, hisexploits have made headlines in recent years, in particular his supposed involvement ina series ofabductions, including that oftwo former Canadian diplomats,Robert Fowler and Louis Guay,in Niger in December 2008.

"Hes a very serious individual," Fowler told CBCs The Current with Anna Maria Tremonti.

"He didnt stay with us at our various camps. He would come for an hour or a day or three days. Sometimes he would come and speak to us,sometimes he would not.He was always very business-likeBut there was absolutely no doubt that he was the boss and everybody was very anxious to keep him happy."

Until recently akey seniorcommander inal-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM),Belmokhtaris said to have recently left AQIM after a falling out and now leadshis ownIslamistgroup,the Masked Brigade.

"He was very independent, he had his own ideas. He wanted to do things with which they didn't agree with," according to Richard Barrett, the former coordinator of the al-Qaeda-Taliban monitoring team at the UN.

Dubbed 'The uncatchable'

Based in Mali, Belmokhtaralsohas a reputation as a smuggler,and had made millionssmuggling diamonds, weapons, drugsandcigarettes, earning him the nickname "Mr. Marlboro."He has also been dubbed"The Uncatchable" byFrench officials.

He "is more interested in making money, rather than hard-line Islamist ideology," Jeremy Binnie, a London-basedterrorism and insurgency analystwithJane's Terrorism and Insurgency Centre, told CBC News via email.

"His forces or others acting on his behalf were responsible for many of the kidnappings in the Sahara in recent years, with the rest carried out by or for the rival brigade led by Abu Zaid," Binnie said. "Hostages held by Belmokhtar have had a better chance of survival than those held by Abu Zaid."

Belmokhtar hasbeenin the desert for years, providing logistical support for the Islamist militants operating in northern Algeria, Binnie said. He is also said to havemarried into Berberand/ or Arab tribes in northern Mali, thereby establishing strong links with local families.

Believed to be in his 40s, Belmokhtar was born in Algeria, and served in the Algerian military.At one point, probably as ateenager,he is said to have travelled to Afghanistan in the late 1980s to help fight in the insurgency against the Soviets.

It wasduring combatthere thathe is believed to have lost an eye, gaining him the nickname Belaouer/al-Awar (The One-Eyed).

But he arrived a little late to the fighting, according toBarrett. The Soviets pulled out in 1989, and Belmokhtarheaded back to Algeria.

Back home, he joinedthe Armed Islamic Group,a militant group devoted to overthrowingthe Algerian government, which was formed following the cancellation ofelections by the army in 1991.

Belmokhtar broke from that group to co-found the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combatalsoknown by itsFrench name Groupe Salafiste pour la Prdication et le Combat(GSPC).

He was alleged to have been involved in the GSPC's 2003 kidnappings of 32 European tourists.

GSPC eventually renamed themselves al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb andBarrett said they had had an agreement withthe leadership of al-Qaeda that AQIM would bean affiliate.

"Because they were running out of recruits and they werent really doing very well and they werent getting funding from abroad or anything, they reckoned it would be a very good idea to call themselves al-Qaeda," Barrett said.

But Belmokhtar was apparently not happy with the leadership of AQIM, and for being passed over to head up operations. He declared in December that he was leavingto become leader of his own group the Masked Brigade.

Hesaid at the time that he would still maintain ties with the centralal-Qaedaorganization based in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"He apparentlyput out a video statement in which he basically said he had cut out the middle management, he considered his new line manager tobe al-Zawahiri [the al-Qaeda leader who succeeded Osama bin Laden] and that he wanted to focus on expanding his regional operations," Binnie said.

"He also said that he had formed a new unit called Al-Muwaqiun bi al-Dima (Those Who Sign With Blood) and would retaliate against anyone who intervened in Mali."