This picture provided by the French Army Communications Audiovisual office (ECPAD) and released Monday Jan. 28, 2013 shows Chadian soldiers securing Gao airport, north of Mali, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013. A presidential spokesman says that Chadian President Idriss Deby announced Friday March 1 2013 that Chadian troops fighting to dislodge an al-Qaida affiliate in northern Mali killed one of the group鈥檚 leading commanders, Abou Zeid. AP/Ghislain Mariette, EMA-ECPAD
N鈥橠JAMENA, Chad鈥� Chadian President Idriss Deby announced Friday that Chadian troops fighting to dislodge an al-Qaida affiliate in northern Mali killed one of the group鈥檚 leading commanders, Abou Zeid.
The death of the Algerian warlord, a feared radical leader of al-Qaida 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 Islamic extremists linked to AQIM, could not confirm the death.
The Chadian president鈥檚 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.
The French military moved into Mali on Jan. 11 to push back al-Qaida-linked militants who had imposed harsh Islamic rule in the vast country and who were seen as an international terrorist threat. The extremists took control over northern Mali in a power vacuum after a coup last year, and had started moving toward the capital.
France is trying to rally other African troops to help in the military campaign, since Mali鈥檚 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鈥檚 announcement. Earlier, French President Francois Hollande said : 鈥淚nformation is circulating. It is not for me to confirm this, because we need to follow through the operation to the end.鈥�
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 鈥渟ide by side鈥� in every operation. So he could not say whether French soldiers were involved in the operation that Deby says killed Abou Zeid.