Top al-Qaeda leader killed in Mali

(BBC) A senior al-Qaeda militant has been killed in northern Mali, Chadian President Idriss Deby has said.

He said the country's forces killed Abdelhamid Abou Zeid during clashes in the remote region.

Algerian security services are said to have taken DNA samples from two of Abou Zeid's relatives to compare with the body which is reportedly his.

He is said to be second-in-command of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, which is fighting foreign forces in Mali.

"Chadian forces killed two jihadi leaders, including Abou Zeid," President Deby said on Friday, without giving any further details. [...]

Algeria-born Abou Zeid - believed to be in his 40s - was known as the most violent al-Qaeda commander in the region. He was last seen in public in Mali's cities of Timbuktu and Gao seized by Islamist groups last year.

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