Sinai-based Ansar Bayt Al-Maqdis claimed responsibility Sunday for the murder of American oil production expert William Henderson in the Western Desert, publishing photos of his passport and company ID on their official Twitter account.
According to petroglobalnews, an American supervisor in Egypt was killed in what appeared to be a carjacking. The body was found in a car two days later outside Cairo.
The company didn’t mention the man’s name at the time; however spokesman Bill Mintz said in following statements that the man had worked for Apache for many years, including several years in Egypt.
NBC reported an Apache corporation statement Monday that the “tragic carjacking incident this past August involving our colleague Bill Henderson is still under investigation by the U.S. government.”
Ansar Bayt Al-Maqdis recently pledged alliance to the Islamic State group in an audio recording published on YouTube. It was said the nine-minute audio released Nov.9 that by pledging their alliance they are “accepting the call of Allah.”
During the U.S. State Department Press Briefing Dec. 1, spokesperson Jen Psaki said that the American government “deplored” the Aug. 6 attack, but that they are unable to confirm any thing reported about him in the media or even the source of his death.
The Algerian terrorist group Jund Al-Khelafa also announced their responsibility for killing French citizen Hervé Gourdel who had been kidnapped in Algeria last September. A video released by them said that it was a “message with blood to the French government.”
The Ministry of Petroleum announced last September that they had signed two agreements with the Apache Corporation to explore for oil and gas at the Western Desert in West Kanayes and Siwa areas with total investments of $ 44 million, and a signature bonus of $25 million to drill 11 new wells.
