N’DJAMENA, March 3, (Agencies): Chad says its troops in northern Mali have killed Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the one-eyed Islamist leader who masterminded an assault on an Algerian gas plant in January that left 37 foreign hostages dead.

The announcement came amid continued fighting in the mountains of northern Mali, where France on Sunday said a third French soldier had been killed since it launched operations against Islamist rebels in mid-January.

The reported death of Belmokhtar was the second time Chad said it had killed a leading Islamist militant in Mali in recent days — after the reported death of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) commander Abdelhamid Abou Zeid.

There has been no confirmation of the deaths from other governments or Islamist sources.

If the killings are confirmed, the French-led military coalition fighting in northern Mali will have eliminated the Sahel region’s two historical al-Qaeda leaders and decapitated the Islamist insurgency in Mali.
“If this information is confirmed it’s a very important blow by France, because these were the two men who ran the (Islamist) organisation in the Sahel,” said Anne Giudicelli, a specialist on Islamic militant groups.

The Chadian army, whose troops have been at the forefront of the hunt for al-Qaeda-linked fighters hiding in northern Mali, said Belmokhtar was killed during an operation in the Ifoghas mountains on Saturday.

Belmokhtar, an Algerian national and Afghanistan veteran, had broken away from AQIM weeks ago to form a group called Signatories in Blood.

“The Chadian forces in Mali completely destroyed the main jihadist base in Adrar of the Ifoghas mountains” at 1200 GMT, an army statement said, adding that several militants were killed “including leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar”.

Belmokhtar, 40, was seen several times in the main northern Malian cities of Timbuktu and Gao after AQIM and its allies took over northern Mali in April 2012.

He quit AQIM last year and in December the creation of his new group was announced.

In January, days after France’s surprise decision to send in fighter jets and troops to help the Malian government reconquer the north, Belmokhtar claimed the attack on the In Amenas gas plant in southern Algeria.

The spectacular assault on the isolated facility, which was jointly operated by British, US and Norwegian oil companies, ended in a bloodbath, with 38 hostages killed by the time an Algerian raid ended the crisis.

Among the victims were 37 foreigners, from nations including Britain, Norway and Japan.
The report of the death of the man branded “The Uncatchable” came after Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno announced Friday that his forces had killed Abou Zeid, the top AQIM commander in Mali.
Deby said his troops killed Abou Zeid during a major battle on Feb 22 that also left 26 Chadian soldiers dead.

But the private Mauritanian news agency Sahara Medias had a different story. It said Abou Zeid, 46, one of the most wanted men in Africa, was killed “four days ago” in a French air strike during a clash between a unit he was leading and the Chadian platoon that had suffered the 26 losses days earlier.

Sahara Medias said the strike occurred in the mountainous region of Tigharghar near the border with Algeria and added that “extremely well-informed sources” had confirmed Abou Zeid’s killing.

Algeria’s El Khabar newspaper said Saturday that Algerian security services, who were the first to report Abou Zeid’s death, had found his personal weapon and examined a body believed to be his.

“Confirmation of Abou Zeid’s death remains linked to the results of DNA tests done on Thursday by Algeria on two members of his family,” it said.

Abou Zeid was believed to be holding a number of Western hostages, including four French citizens kidnapped in Niger in 2010.

He and Belmokhtar were directly involved in most of the kidnappings of foreigners that have plagued the region in recent years.

In latest development, Algerian al Qaeda commander Mokhtar Belmokhtar, reported killed by Chadian troops, is alive, a monitoring service that tracks online militant forums reported a contributor as saying on Sunday.

An unidentified participant in militant website discussions said in a message posted on several forums that Belmoktar was “alive and well and leading the battles himself”, the US-based SITE service reported.
The message said Belmokhtar, the presumed mastermind behind a hostage-taking at an Algerian gas plant in January, would soon issue a message confirming the news, SITE reported.

The death of Belmokhtar, nicknamed ‘the uncatchable’, has been reported several times in the past. On Saturday, Chad said its forces had killed him in the same part of Mali that they had killed Adelhamid Abou Zeid, al Qaeda’s other senior field commander in the Sahara, a few days previously.

The killing of Belmokhtar and Abou Zeid, if confirmed, would eliminate al Qaeda’s leadership in Mali and raise questions over the fate of seven French hostages thought to be held by the group in the country.
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has pledged to avenge a French assault on its fighters in Mali, which Paris said it launched to prevent its former colony becoming a launchpad for wider al Qaeda attacks.

The online participant did not indicate how he learned of Belmoktar’s status, SITE reported.
Ahrar Press, an independent Arabic media organisation, also reported that a source in Belmoktar’s group denied claims of his death, SITE reported.

Britain said Sunday that the reported killing of Islamist militant Mokhtar Belmokhtar would be a blow to terrorism in North Africa but would not represent the end of Mali’s troubles.

Chad said its troops in northern Mali had killed Belmokhtar, the one-eyed Islamist leader who masterminded an assault on an Algerian gas plant that left 37 foreign hostages dead in January.

The Chadian army, which has been at the forefront of the hunt for al-Qaeda-linked fighters hiding in northern Mali, said Belmokhtar was killed during an operation in the Ifoghas mountains on Saturday.
“It would be a blow to terrorism,” British Foreign Secretary William Hague told BBC television.

“These are reports from Chadian soldiers who have been doing a lot of the fighting in northern Mali. We can’t absolutely confirm this at the moment — I stress that.

“It would be a blow to terrorism and to the criminal network around this man and other people.

“But it doesn’t mean that the problems of Mali would be at an end. There’s a lot to do to promote a political process in Mali: elections, legitimate government and so on. That work has to go on.”

Belmokhtar, an Algerian national and Afghanistan veteran, had broken away from al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb weeks ago to form a group called Signatories in Blood.

US Republican Representative Ed Royce, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, on Saturday hailed the reported killing of Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the self-proclaimed mastermind of an assault on an Algerian gas in January.
“One of the most elusive and deadly terrorists in North Africa has been reportedly killed,” Royce said in a statement without confirming the warlord’s alleged death.
“This would be a hard blow to the collection of jihadists operating across the region that are targeting American diplomats and energy workers,” the US lawmaker added.
The Chadian army, whose troops have been at the forefront of the hunt for al Qaeda-linked fighters hiding in northern Mali, said Belmokhtar was killed during an operation in the Ifogha mountains.
In January, Belmokhtar claimed the attack on the In Amenas gas plant in southern Algeria.
The raid ended in a bloodbath, with 38 hostages killed by the time an Algerian operation ended the crisis.
Among the victims were 37 foreigners, from Britain, Norway, Japan and other nations.
The reported killings of two leading Islamist militants in northern Mali are raising fears over the fates of several French hostages held in the region who may have been used as human shields.
Experts said concerns over the hostages could explain why France has been reluctant to confirm the announcements from Chad of the deaths of prominent extremists Mokhtar Belmokhtar and Abdelhamid Abou Zeid.
Supporters of the hostages and their families said there were real fears they had been caught up in the crossfire during the operations that reportedly led to the Islamists’ deaths.
“This is a rumour that is enormously worrying for the families and those of us who support them,” said Didier Beguin from the support committee for four French hostages abducted by radical Islamists in Niger in September 2010.
“We can imagine something positive from this and the quick release (of the hostages), but we can also imagine the worst. For now this uncertainty is leaving us even more concerned.”
A total of 15 French hostages are being held on African soil, including at least seven being held by Islamist militants in the Sahel region, the semi-arid belt south of the Sahara desert that stretches across a swathe of western Africa.
Chad announced on Saturday the killing of Belmokhtar, the one-eyed Islamist leader who masterminded an assault on an Algerian gas plant in January that left 37 foreign hostages dead.
The country on Friday also announced its troops had killed Abou Zeid, the top commander of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in Mali, during a major battle that also left 26 Chadian soldiers dead.
Both men were directly involved in most of the kidnappings of foreigners that have plagued the region in recent years. Abou Zeid was believed to be holding a number of Western hostages, including the four French citizens kidnapped in Niger.
“Jihadist leaders have a tendency to take hostages with them. This gives them human shields and the ability to quickly launch negotiations if necessary,” said Matthieu Guidere, a French university professor and al-Qaeda specialist.
“If Abou Zeid was killed in a bombing, they could be collateral victims of this attack. If it was in fighting then they would have been hidden not far away. But when the jihadists are attacked, retaliation against the hostages is fairly routine.”
France has been in the lead of operations in Mali after its forces launched a lightning intervention in mid-January to oust Islamist rebels who had seized control of the country’s vast desert north last year.
It has not confirmed the deaths of either top Islamist and experts said that could be a calculated move aimed at protecting the hostages.
“The lack of a confirmation or denial from France keeps things vague and minimises the incident so as not to feed the desire for retaliation,” said Anne Giudicelli, a specialist on Islamic militant groups.
Guidere said the Chadian announcements could even be part of a risky ploy where false information is released in a bid to flush out militant leaders.
“It is quite possible that there is an operation to lie in order to get to the truth. The goal would be to make Abou Zeid emerge to deny his death so his trail can be found again,” he said.
Amid so much confusion and doubt, families of the hostages said all they could do was try to stay calm and hope for the best.
“We have to give it some time, we are not sure of anything,” said Rene Robert, the grandfather of Pierre Legrand, one of the four hostages held in Niger.
“The rumours are multiplying, we need to keep a cool head and wait.”
Algeria’s army says it made the decision to storm a gas plant where dozens of foreigners were being held hostage without consulting their governments.
Al-Qaeda-affiliated militants raided the desert complex in January, leading to a four-day confrontation punctuated by exploding cars, attacks from helicopters and a final assault by Algerian special forces. In all, 37 hostages, including an Algerian security guard, were killed. Some have suggested that the special forces’ raid was reckless.
The army rejected that criticism Sunday in its weekly magazine, El Djeich.
The editorial says the army attacked “without any consultation or coordination so that no one can intervene in the internal affairs of the country.” It added that the assault prevented a greater tragedy: the possibility that the militants might have blown up the gas site.