Chadian officials claim their troops have killed Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the Al Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (Aqim)-aligned leader of the group that staged January’s bloody operation at Algeria’s In Amenas oilfield.
“Chadian forces have totallly destroyed the principal bases of the jihadists in the Adrar
massif of the Ifoghas [mountains], to be more precise in the town of Ametetai,” Chad’s military command announced on Saturday, adding that “several terrorists”, including Mokhtar Belmokhtar, had been killed.
The claim came a day after Chad’s President Idriss Déby said that another Aqim leader, Abou Zeid [1], had been killed, a claim that France has yet to confirm.
Belmokhtar claimed responsibility for the In Amenas oilfield attack [2], which claimed the lives of 38 hostages, 37 of them foreign [3], and took place just after France’s military intervention in Mali began.
There was no immediate confirmation of his death from elsewhere but US Republican Representative Ed Royce, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, hailed the reported killing.
“This would be a hard blow to the collection of jihadists operating across the region that are targeting American diplomats and energy workers,” he said in a statement.
