When one is promoted in their company, it is usually a good thing, but the same cannot be said for those in the hierarchy of the Al Qaeda terrorist network, who, in the last couple years, have seen their leaders fall faster than dominos.
According to Algeria's Ennahar television, the latest of those high-ranking officials to "buy the farm" was commander Abdelhamid Abou Zeid.
French forces have killed Abou Zeid, one of the most feared commanders of al Qaeda's north Africa wing, during an operation against Islamist fighters in mountainous northern Mali, Ennahar reported on Thursday.
A spokesman for France's Elysee presidential palace declined to comment. Algeria's government, Malian and Chadian officials could not confirm Abou Zeid's killing, stated France 24.
A U.S. official said the reports that Abou Zeid had been killed appeared to be credible and that Washington would view his death as a serious blow to al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), according to Reuters.
A French army official, who would not comment on Abou Zeid, confirmed that about 40 Islamists had been killed in heavy fighting over the last week in the mountainous Tigargara region, stated Reuters.
The official said 1,200 French troops, 800 Chadian soldiers and some elements of the Malian army were still in combat to the south of Tessalit in the Adrar mountain range, reported France 24.
Born in 1965 in the Debdab region of Algeria's Illizi province, close to the Libyan border, Abou Zeid joined the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) during the 1990s civil war, which later transformed itself into AQIM.
He is believed to have executed British national Edwin Dyer in 2009 and 78-year-old Frenchman, Michel Germaneau, in 2010.
It is also assumed that he was behind the kidnapping of more than 20 Westerners in the lawless Sahara over the last five years, earning AQIM tens of millions of dollars in ransom payments.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
