“It was Chadian forces who killed two jihadi leaders, including Abou
Zeid,” Deby told opposition politicians in the presence of journalists
after a funeral ceremony for Chadian soldiers killed in fighting at the
weekend.
Chadian soldiers with support from French special forces and fighter
jets are hunting down pockets of al Qaeda-linked insurgents in the
border region with Algeria after a seven-week French-led campaign broke
Islamist domination of northern Mali.
The death of Abou Zeid, who has earned AQIM tens of millions of
dollars with a spate of kidnappings of Westerners in the Sahara over the
last five years, would be a significant but far from fatal blow to the
group.
Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the one-eyed mastermind of a mass hostage-taking
at the In Amenas gas plant in Algeria last month, remains at large. So
does Tuareg Islamist leader Iyad ag Ghali, who was this week placed on
the US global terrorist list.
Sources close to militants and tribal elders had
earlier said Abou
Zeid, blamed for kidnapping at least 20 Westerners in the Sahara, was
among 40 militants killed within the past few days in the foothills of
the Adrar des Ifoghas mountains.
Algeria’s Ennahar television, which is well connected with Algerian
security services, had reported his death on Thursday but there was no
official confirmation.
A former smuggler turned jihadi, Algerian-born Abou Zeid is regarded
as one of the most ruthless operators of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
(AQIM).
He is believed to have executed British hostage Edwin Dyer in 2009 and 78-year-old Frenchman Michel Germaneau in 2010.
A trusted lieutenant of AQIM’s leader Abdelmalek Droukdel, Abou Zeid
imposed a violent form of sharia law during Islamist domination of the
ancient desert town of Timbuktu, including amputations and the
destruction of ancient Sufi shrines.
“The death of Abou Zeid has been confirmed by several of his
supporters who have come back from the mountains,” said Ibrahim Oumar
Toure, a mechanic in the northern Malian town of Kidal who worked with
Islamist rebels and remains in contact with them.
Members of the MNLA Tuareg rebel group, who have been acting as
scouts for French and Chadian forces, said Islamist prisoners seized
during the fighting confirmed Abou Zeid and another militant leader had
been killed. However, French government spokeswoman Najat
Vallaud-Belkacem said she could neither confirm nor deny the report,
and French officials urged caution. An official MNLA spokesman said the
group had no evidence to prove he was dead.
French radio RFI and Algerian daily El Khabar reported that DNA tests
were being conducted on members of Abou Zeid’s family to confirm
whether a body recovered by French troops after fighting in Adrar des
Ifoghas was indeed the militant leader.
No comments:
Post a Comment