N'DJAMENA, Chad — Chadian President Idriss Deby announced Friday that Chadian troops fighting to dislodge an Al-Qaeda affiliate in northern Mali killed one of the group's leading commanders, Abou Zeid. The death of the Algerian warlord, a feared radical leader of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb behind the kidnapping of several Westerners, could not immediately be verified. His death would be a big blow to his group and its growing influence in North and West Africa. Officials in Mali and in France, which is leading an international military intervention in Mali against extremists linked to AQIM, could not confirm the death. The Chadian president's spokesman said that Deby announced the death of Abou Zeid during a ceremony Friday for Chadian soldiers killed in fighting in Mali. The spokesman insisted on anonymity because he was not authorized to speak ahead of an announcement on state television on the matter. He gave no further details. France is trying to rally other African troops to help in the military campaign, since Mali's military is weak and poor. Chadian troops have offered the most robust reinforcement. For the past 10 days, French military, along with Chadian forces, have been locked in a weeklong battle against extremists in the Adrar des Ifoghas mountains of northern Mali that has left scores dead. A French presidential aide said the French government would not comment on the Chadian president's announcement. Earlier, French President Francois Hollande said: “Information is circulating. It is not for me to confirm this, because we need to follow through the operation to the end.” French military spokesman Col. Thierry Burkhard said Friday night that French and Chadian soldiers are working together in a general sense but they are not always “side by side” in every operation. So he could not say whether French soldiers were involved in the operation that Deby says killed Abou Zeid. Abdelhamid Abou Zeid, who led one of the most violent brigades of Al-Qaeda's North African franchise and helped lead the extremist takeover of the north, was thought to be 47 years old. He was a pillar of the southern realm of Al-Qaedain the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, responsible for the death of at least two European hostages. He was believed to be holding four French nationals kidnapped two years ago at a uranium mine in Niger. The fate of those hostages, working for French company Areva, was unclear Friday night. Abou Zeid held a Frenchman released in February 2010, and another who was executed that July. He's also been linked to the execution of a British hostage in 2009. There is uncertainty about his real name. Along with his nom de guerre, Abou Zeid had an alias, Mosab Abdelouadoud, and nicknames, the emir of the south and the little emir, due to his diminutive size. But the Algerian press has raised questions about his legal identity — Abid Hamadou or Mohamed Ghedir. He was viewed as a disciplined radical with close ties to the overall AQIM boss, Abdelmalek Droukdel who overseas operations from his post in northern Algeria. But he was an arch rival of Moktar bel Moktar, known as “the one-eyed sheik” after lost an eye in combat in Afghanistan. Mokhtar's profile soared in January after a mid-January attack on a huge Algerian gas plant combined with a mass hostage taking which left 37 hostages and 29 attackers dead over four days. — AP
