Chadian soldiers in Mali have killed Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the al Qaeda commander who masterminded the bloody hostage-taking at an Algerian gas plant in January, Reuters reported. Belmokhtar was one of the world's most wanted jihadists. This was a major blow to al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM)
On Friday, Chad's President Idriss Deby also said his soldiers had killed another al Qaeda commander, Adelhamid Abou Zeid, among 40 militants who died in an operation in the same area as Saturday's assault. Analysts said the death of two of al Qaeda's most feared commanders in the Sahara desert would mark a significant blow to Mali's Islamist rebellion.
"Both men have extensive knowledge of northern Mali and parts of the broader Sahel and deep social and other connections in northern Mali, and the death of both in such a short amount of time will likely have an impact on militant operations," said Andrew Lebovich, a Dakar-based analyst who follows AQIM.
The fate of seven French hostages believed to be held by Islamists in northern Mali is still unknown. 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 Qaeda 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.
In a rare interview with a Mauritanian news service in late 2011, Belmokhtar was looked up to bin Laden and his successor, Ayman al-Zawahri. He cited al Qaeda's traditional global preoccupations, including Iraq, Afghanistan and the fate of the Palestinians, and stressed the need to "attack Western and Jewish economic and military interests". He shared command of field operations for AQIM - al Qaeda's north African franchise - with Abou Zeid, though there was talk the two did not get along and were competing for power.
Robert Fowler, a former Canadian diplomat held hostage by Belmokhtar in 2008-9, told Reuters: "While I cannot consider reports of the death of both Abou Zeid and Mokhtar Belmokhtar as anything but good news ... I must temper my enthusiasm by the fact that this is by no means the first time Belmokhtar's death has been reported."
President Francois Hollande said on Friday that the assault to retake Mali's vast desert north from AQIM and other Islamist rebels that began on January 11 was in its final stage and so could not confirm Abou Zeid's death. A U.S. official and a Western diplomat, however, said the reports about Abou Zeid's death appeared to be credible.
U.S. Representative Ed Royce, Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the killing of Belmokhtar "would be a hard blow to the collection of jihadists operating across the region that are targeting American diplomats and energy workers."Washington has said it believes Islamists operating in Mali were involved in the killing of the U.S. ambassador in Libya's eastern city of Benghazi in September.
After its success in dislodging al Qaeda fighters from northern Mali's towns, France and its African allies have faced a mounting wave of suicide bombings and guerrilla-style raids by Islamists in northern Malian towns.
