'This is the eighth time' – caution greets reports of Mokhtar Belmokhtar's death

DNA samples taken but Western experts say it is unlikely sworn enemies would be killed together

Western governments were treating with extreme caution tonight claims that Chadian forces had killed Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the elusive Islamist chieftain responsible for the attack on the Algerian BP gas field in January.

Defence officials in France said they had no confirmation of Chad’s claims that its forces had killed both Belmokhtar and Abu Zeid, the principle Al-Qa’ida leader in the Sahel, during intense battles in the mountains of northern Mali in recent days.

Paris did announce, however, that the fighting – among the most violent since France intervened in Mali two months ago – had claimed the life of a French paratrooper.

DNA samples taken from the bodies that Chad claims are those of Belmokhtar and Abu Zaid are being sent to the authorities in Algiers, according to Western diplomatic sources. Both men are Algerian nationals. The Western officials stressed that they had no independent verification that the two men had been killed.

French experts on Islamist radical movements expressed some doubt about the claims. They pointed out that Islamists were usually quick to acknowledge the deaths of their own leaders and to claim them as “martyrs”. They also stressed that the two men, although once allies, were now sworn enemies and that it was unlikely that both had taken refuge in the Adrar des Ifoghas mountains close to the Mali-Algeria frontier.

Professor Jeremy Keenan, a British social anthropologist and an expert on the Sahel region, said it was possible but “on the whole unlikely” that the two leaders had been killed.

“We know [Belmokhtar] has not been in the area for months. How did he get through the French and Chadian forces which have been surrounding the mountains? This is the eighth time he has been reported killed. I would be very surpised if it is true.”

Henry Enscher, the American envoy  in Algeria, is reported to have told Washington last month that the French hunt for Islamist leaders in Mali was progressing better than expected. He said “developments” could be expected in the near future. Much of the intelligence used by the French is said to have come from US drones and satellites, and electronic intercepts.

Belmokhtar, 40, known as “the one-eyed” or “Marlboro Man”, is an independent Islamist fighter and a trafficker in cigarettes and gold who was once allied to al-Qa’ida. His breakaway group, “Those who sign in blood”, claimed responsibility for the attack on the In Amenas gas field in eastern Algeria in January in which 39 Western hostages and 29 Islamists were killed.

Abu Zeid, 48, is the principle leader of al-Qa’ida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). He was responsible for the enforcement of a harsh interpretation of sharia law – under which many transgressors lost limbs – after a loose coalition of islamist groups overran northern Mali last year. He is also believed to have been behind the kidnapping and execution of Westerners, including a British hostage, Edwin Dyer, in 2009.

The death of either man would be a considerable coup for the French forces and their Chadian allies who launched an attack on the rugged Ifoghas mountains, the last Islamist bastion in Mali, two weeks ago. The offensive has been led by Chadian troops and French special forces, backed by French aircraft and helicopters.

A French paratroop corporal, Cédric Charenton, 26, was killed in running battles with islamist rebels in the mountains on Saturday. He was the third French soldier to die since France intervened to halt a rebel advance on southern Mali in January.

Defence officials in Paris said today that they had no independent evidence that either of the islamists leaders had been killed.“It is not that we doubt the good faith of the Chadian government. It is just that you have to be very careful about checking such claims, made in the heat of a battle which is still going on,” one official said.

Islamist experts in France pointed out that the government in Chad was anxious to claim significant victories in Mali after at least 20 Chadian soldiers died in battles in the Ifoghas massif last weekend. On Friday, the Chadian president, Idriss Deby, said that Abu Zeid was one of 40 Islamist fighers killed by Chadian troops a week ago. On Saturday, a Chadian military   communiqué said that Belmokhtar had been killed when “the principle jihadist” base in the Ametetai valley had been destroyed earlier that day.

Neither of these claims has been confirmed by the Algeran or Malian governments. Algerian press reports said that a gun known to belong to Abu Zeid had been found on one of the islamist bodies. Photographs had been taken of all the dead fighters but none had been identified so far as Zaid.

Matthieu Guidère, professor of islamology at the University of Toulouse, said: “These reports have not been confirmed by AQIM, nor by a rival group, nor by the global leadership of al-Qa’ida. Experience tells us that jihadists do not conceal their dead but immediately proclaim them to be martyrs.”

Independent Comment
blog comments powered by Disqus
Top stories
News in pictures
World news in pictures
UK news in pictures
UK news in pictures
More stories
       
Independent
Travel Shop
Lake Como and the Bernina Express
Seven nights half-board from £749pp Find out more
Dubrovnik and the Dalmatian coast
Seven nights half-board from only £859pp Find out more
Prague city break
Three nights from only £199pp Find out more
 
Independent Dating
and  

By clicking 'Search' you
are agreeing to our
Terms of Use.

iJobs Job Widget
iJobs General

Project Manager - Front Office - Regulatory IT

£600 - £700 per day: Orgtel: Project Manager - Front Office - Regulatory IT C...

Lighting Design Engineer

£33000 - £35000 Per Annum: The Green Recruitment Company: The Green Recruitmen...

Are you an Primary NQT looking for your first role in Essex?

£21000 - £22000 per annum: Randstad Education Chelmsford: NQTs required now fo...

Primary teaching vacancies - Starting in September

£21000 - £32000 per annum: Randstad Education Chelmsford: September start - Pr...

Day In a Page

'To farm I have to rape the countryside. It’s got to be wrong': The true effect of the badger cull

The true effect of the badger cull

'To farm I have to rape the countryside. It’s got to be wrong'
Theatre review: Daniel Radcliffe gives an admirably honest performance in Michael Grandage's The Cripple of Inishmaan

First night: The Cripple of Inishmaan

Daniel Radcliffe gives an admirably honest performance in Michael Grandage's comedy
Girls Guides drop religious reference but pledge to self and the Queen

Guides drop religious reference but pledge to self and the Queen

After 103 years, organisation changes oath to welcome 'all girls, of all faiths, and none'
Steve Tongue: Joe Kinnear was one of the boys and a breath of fresh air... 21 years ago

Steve Tongue

Joe Kinnear was one of the boys and a breath of fresh air... 21 years ago
Chris Froome: Free from 'pain in neck' after Bradley Wiggins' exit

Chris Froome: Free from 'pain in neck' after Wiggins' exit

Sky's lead rider says he is in fantastic form for the Tour and happy pecking order debate is over
Hannah England: I've got the right times – now to focus on the chess

Hannah England: Keeping Track

I've got the right times – now to focus on the chess
Beards, brawn and body art

Beards, brawn and body art

Meet London’s new batch of male models
Scandi-geeks descend on Nordicana for fan-convention

Scandi-geeks descend on Nordicana for fan-convention

British love of shows such as The Bridge, Borgen and The Killing shows no sign of fading
Behind the rhetoric what is really being done to combat desertification?

The Great Green Wall of Africa,

Behind the rhetoric what is really being done to combat desertification?
Laughter Inc: the cheering growth of the chuckle industry

Laughter Inc

The cheering growth of the chuckle industry
The bad science scandal: how fact-fabrication is damaging UK's global name for research

The bad science scandal

How fact-fabrication is damaging UK's global name for research
To the manor born: The female aristocrats battling to inherit the title

Female aristocrats battle to inherit the title

A passionate protest is gathering pace among the women of Britain's aristocracy, who believe that men should no longer automatically inherit the family pile and title.
Love struck: Photographs of JFK's visit to Berlin 50 years ago reveal a nation instantly smitten

In pictures: JFK's visit to Berlin in 1963

Photographer Ulrich Mack accompanied Kennedy on the entire trip. The results are an astonishing record of a watershed moment.
Eat shoots and leaves: Mark Hix gets creative with fresh peas, mangetouts and sugar snaps

Mark Hix gets creative with English peas

English peas and their offsprings, such as mangetouts and sugar snaps, are great tossed into a salad, says our chef.
Ceviche with a smile: Chef Martin Morales has turned South America's elegant cuisine into one of London's hottest food trends

Chef Martin Morales: Ceviche with a smile

Morales has turned South America's elegant cuisine into one of London's hottest food trends