(3.9.2011) Known in the jihadi world as Abu Abdullah al-Sadiq, Mr Belhaj is a former commander of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, which has been linked to al-Qaeda, the Taliban and the al-Jihad group in Egypt.

The LIFG staged three attempts to assassinate Colonel Gaddafi in 1995 and 1996 before it was disbanded in 1998. Mr Belhaj spent time in Abu Salim prison after being captured in Malaysia in 2004 and returned to Libya, after his second stint of fighting in Afghanistan after the September 11 attacks in the US.