ALGIERS (Reuters) - French forces in Mali have killed Abdelhamid Abu Zeid, a leading field commander of al Qaeda's north Africa wing AQIM, Algerian Ennahar television reported on Thursday.
The station said 40 militants including Abu Zeid were killed in the region of Tigargara in northern Mali three days ago. A French Defence Ministry official declined to comment on the report. Algeria did not confirm the killing.
France launched a whirlwind assault to retake Mali's vast northern desert region from AQIM and other Islamist rebels on January 11 after a plea from Mali's caretaker government. The military intervention dislodged the rebels from several main towns they had occupied and drove them back into desert wilds.
AQIM, which stands for Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, has earned tens of millions of dollars in ransom payments for Western hostages taken to its strongholds in northern Mali.
Abu Zeid has been regarded as one of AQIM's most ruthless operators. He is believed to have executed British national Edwin Dyer in 2009 and a 78-year-old Frenchman, Michel Germaneau, in 2010.
Canadian diplomat Robert Fowler, in an account of his kidnapping by another Islamist cell in the Sahara, recounted how Abou Zeid refused to give medication to two hostages suffering from dysentery, one of whom had been stung by a scorpion.
(Reporting by Lamine Chikhi and John Irish; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

http://news.yahoo.com/al-qaeda-commander-abu-zeid-killed-mali-ennahar-152516163.html

Amen

Mehn this z a huge welcome development, we are patiently waiting for nadia BUHARI co to join their fellow virgin hunters

mike404: Mehn this z a huge welcome development, we are patiently waiting for nadia BUHARI co to join their fellow virgin hunters

You must be born STUPI.D and it runs in your generations/lineage? Why mention Buhari when there is no iota of proof even from your retardeen-in-chief Odechukwu? Most of you who makes these unfounded allegations are just completely brain dead! And BTW you MUST be ibo...they are usually the ones who are bereft of any logic or common sense when they make these gutter allegations!

72 demons... Oops! Virgins I meant to say, on point... Just can't wait for these fanatics to be exterminated off the surface of the earth. They are more dangerous compared the rattle snakes.

CyberG:

You must be born STUPI.D and it runs in your generations/lineage? Why mention Buhari when there is no iota of proof even from your retardeen-in-chief Odechukwu? Most of you who makes these unfounded allegations are just completely brain dead! And BTW you MUST be ibo...they are usually the ones who are bereft of any logic or common sense when they make these gutter allegations!

...cowardice,being cunning,slippery,in-consistency and bootlicking is genetic to your tribe and ofcourse you know what i mean by 'your tribe',the tribe that slaves for Hausa-fulani,the tribe with face fungus(tribal marks), the tribe that are presently complaining of marginalizatn,the tribe that is bittered about the positive strides of Nigeria under GEJ,the tribe that may be the next hub of boko-haram going by their romance with APC(Ansaru patrons congress)!less i forget,a tribe that shits in polythene bags!Yoruba ....btw! France shld wipe those bas-tards away,hope the Nigerian troops gets Mallam Shekau dead or alive!preferrably dead!

CyberG:

You must be born STUPI.D and it runs in your generations/lineage? Why mention Buhari when there is no iota of proof even from your retardeen-in-chief Odechukwu? Most of you who makes these unfounded allegations are just completely brain dead! And BTW you MUST be ibo...they are usually the ones who are bereft of any logic or common sense when they make these gutter allegations!

You dont have to curse to make a point. I know you are a fan of Buhari, so Am gonna ask you one quick question: Why did Buhari overthrow the democratically elected Government of Shagari via Coupe d'etat ?

Very good, come and help us smoke dem out from Kano, YObe, Maiduguri, bauchi. They are all going down in a blaze of Gun fire.

hope no be say this abu zeid na malian version of nigerian boko haramist leader, Abu quaqua, that always resurface after the news that he has been killed the previous day?

The stubborn fly. . .you know?