Al-Qaida commander killed in Mali

Chadian soldiers in Mali have killed Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the al-Qaida commander who masterminded a bloody hostage-taking at an Algerian gas plant in January.
Al-Qaida commander killed in Mali

The death of one of the world's most wanted jihadists would be a major blow to al-Qaida in the region and to Islamist rebels already forced to flee towns they had seized in northern Mali by an offensive by French and African troops.

Chad's armed forces in a statement read on national television reported that on Saturday, March 2, Chadian armed forces operating in northern Mali have completely destroyed a terrorist base killing several terrorists including their leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar. 

On Friday, Chad's President Idriss Deby said his soldiers had killed another al-Qaida commander, Adelhamid Abou Zeid, among 40 militants who died in an operation in the same area as Saturday's assault - Mali's Adrar des Ifoghas mountains near the Algerian border.

France - which has used jet strikes against the militants' mountain hideouts - has declined to confirm the killing of either Abou Zeid or Belmokhtar.

Analysts said the death of two of al-Qaida's most feared commanders in the Sahara desert would mark a significant blow to Mali's Islamist rebellion.


Chad is one of several African nations that have contributed forces to a French-led military intervention in Mali aimed at ridding its vast northern desert of Islamist rebels who seized the area nearly a year ago following a coup in the capital.

Western and African countries are worried that al-Qaida could use the zone to launch international attacks and strengthen ties with African Islamist groups like al Shabaab in Somalia and Boko Haram in Nigeria.

VOA