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Ho / AFP - Getty Images
Abdelhamid Abou Zeid is said to have been killed in Mali by soldiers from Chad. He is seen in this image released on Dec. 25, 2012, by Sahara Media.
N'DJAMENA, Chad -- Chadian President Idriss Deby announced Friday that Chadian troops fighting to dislodge an al-Qaida affiliate in northern Mali killed one of the group's leading commanders, Abou Zeid.
The death of the Algerian warlord, a feared radical leader of al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb behind the kidnapping of several Westerners, could not immediately be verified. His death would be a big blow to his group and its growing influence in North and West Africa.
Officials in Mali and in France, which is leading an international military intervention in Mali against Islamic extremists linked to AQIM, could not confirm the death. The White House had no immediate reaction to the announcement. The U.S. has offered drones and intelligence help to the French-led operation.
The Chadian president's spokesman said that Deby announced the death of Abou Zeid during a ceremony Friday for Chadian soldiers killed in fighting in Mali.
Deby said, "It was our soldiers who killed two big Islamist chiefs in northern Mali," including Abou Zeid, according to the spokesman.
The spokesman insisted on anonymity because he was not authorized to speak ahead of an announcement on state television on the matter. It was unclear when it was expected, and the spokesman gave no further details.
Hostages killed
Abdelhamid Abou Zeid, who led one of the most violent brigades of al-Qaida's North African franchise and helped lead the extremist takeover of northern Mali, was thought to be 47 years old.
He was a pillar of the southern realm of al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, responsible for the death of at least two European hostages.
He was believed to be holding four French nationals kidnapped two years ago at a uranium mine in Niger. The fate of those hostages, working for French company Areva, was unclear Friday night.
Abou Zeid held a Frenchman released in February 2010, and another who was executed that July. He's also been linked to the execution of a British hostage in 2009.
The French military moved into Mali on Jan. 11 to push back militants linked to Abou Zeid and other extremist groups who had imposed harsh Islamic rule in the vast country and who were seen as an international terrorist threat.
The extremists took control over northern Mali in a power vacuum after a coup last year, and had started moving toward the capital.
France is trying to rally other African troops to help in the military campaign, since Mali's military is weak and poor. Chadian troops have offered the most robust reinforcement.
For the past 10 days, French military, along with Chadian forces, have been locked in a weeklong battle against extremists in the Adrar des Ifoghas mountains of northern Mali that has left scores dead.
The little emir
After the militants took over Mali's north, Abou Zeid took control of the fabled city of Timbuktu, meting out justice according to his extremist view of Islamic law until ousted by French and Malian forces..
Abou Zeid, a nom de guerre, was a powerful and shadowy figure, and mystery surrounds his real name.
He had another alias, Mosab Abdelouadoud, and nicknames, the emir of the south and the little emir, due to his diminutive size.
He was viewed as a disciplined radical with close ties to the overall AQIM boss, Abdelmalek Droukdel, who oversees operations from his post in northern Algeria.
Abou Zeid fought with a succession of Islamist insurgency movements trying to topple the Algerian state since 1992.
He reportedly joined the brutal, and now defunct, Armed Islamic Group that massacred whole villages in northern Algeria, then joined the Salafist Group for Call and Combat that morphed into al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb in 2006.
An Algerian court tried him in absentia in January 2012, convicting him of belonging to an international terrorist group and sentencing him to life in prison.
Abou Zeid was an arch rival of Moktar Belmoktar, known as "the one-eyed sheik" after he lost an eye in combat in Afghanistan.
Belmoktar's profile soared after a mid-January attack on a huge Algerian gas plant and a mass hostage-taking which left 37 hostages and 29 attackers dead.
Related:
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'We were so terrified': Jihadists leave trail of destruction, brutality in Mali town
France vows to not negotiate with kidnappers
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Wanted: New Al-Queda leader for the Chad region. Duties include murder, mayhem, invasion and destruction. Preferred skills and training: the ability to murder totally innocent men, women and children; burning libraries; destroying art and civilization; training suicide bombers on the proper use of bombmaking and couture vests; growing a nice beard, and other destructive duties as required. Job goals include leading dozens of uneducated, easily-led subjects into the destruction of the aforementioned civilization; lying, an integral part of this position, to spread the word of Islam; terrifying the populace wherever necessary. Physical necessities: the ability to live on the run, hide in caves or Pakistan, and use women or small children as body shields and/or armor. Retirement benefits: The bullet planted between your eyes will probably not have been dipped in pig fat; 72 virgins upon permanent retirement; addendum--this is no guarantee, as the detour through Hell may prove impassable.
"After the militants took over Mali's north, Abou Zeid took control of the fabled city of Timbuktu, meting out justice according to his extremist view of Islamic law"
Mali was once prosperous. The moment followers of Islamic cult set their feet, the place/nation started going down the hill.
These Sunni Islamic holy warriors have beaten all world records in what you mentioned!
At this rate, in heaven there will be shortages of virgins!
Reuters has had this story, along with every other news site for two days before NBC runs it. They really have gone downhill.
MSNBC is to busy covering Obama's butt!
It is always good news when an AQ leader is killed. But the better news is that the locals did it, not the US,or other Western country. The only way to win the war on terror is if the locals turn on the terrorists. The US was at a stalemate in Iraq until the Sunnis, and $300 a week, got them to turn on AQ.
Great post Randy!!!!! **rolls eyes** You got him that time!!!!! You are to smart!!!!!
Who's Motorcycle is this?
It's a Chopper Baby.
Who's Chopper is this?
Zed's.
Who's Zed?
Zed's dead, Baby. Zed's dead.
Richard isn't it too? Not to.
Too smart.
He was the arch rival to Moktar Belmoktar. The one eyed terrorist.
So does that mean Moktar is a good guy?
That's the kind of math we do in Syria. We are picking a terrorist side.
Yes Bluto, I put it in bold and in italics to point out Randy's "MSNBC is to busy" statement. He tried too put 7 words toogether too form a sentence and failed.
"For the past 10 days, French military, along with Chadian forces, have been locked in a weeklong battle..."
There are actually better writers on this vine than write the articles.
O K, I get it. You were trying to be a clever, spelling Nazi.
I usually only comment on spelling when they insult someone's intelligence and then misspell something like IDIUT or MORAN.
The main point is that Abou Zeid is DEAD and may his worthless soul rot in hell.
Wait... Chad "Ochocinco" Johnson took time out from post-season conditioning for the Miami Dolphins and killed a terrorist?
Bet the Cincinnati Bengals wish they hadn't traded him now.
Richard ,,,,,,,,,,,, why did Randy get 7 votes and you only got 1 ?
Richard,,,,,,,,,,,, Who was your favorite little Rascal? Alfalfa,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, or SPANKY?
Jerk off.
7 people do not like Obama and one retard was not clever enough to realize that I intentionally misspelled my statement. That retard "corrected" my statement and then commented on me being a spelling Nazi even though the retard just got done "correcting" my statement on how to spell "to". XDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD Way to go retard! You get a blue ribbon for the day as worst retard troll. Loser. LOL!!!!!!
Duh Duh Duh Duh Duh Duh.....HAHAHA Then you went on to troll some more to make up for your bad performance at trolling!!!! XDDDDDDDDD The troll quotes "Tommy Boy"! HAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAAHAHAH
THE TROLL IS FROM 1995!!!!!!!! XD
I also quoted the Dice Man and Bruce Willis.
Welcome to the future troll! XD Download some more recent movies to update your unoriginal joke list you pathetic bastard! HAHAHA Bluto is going to start trolling tomorrow saying things like "epic fail" XDDDDDD
Flawless victory.
I'm living in your head rent free.
Blutowski 0.0
Far afield from the topic, to be sure, but "the Dice Man"???
I didn't think there was anyone that thought Andrew Dice Clay was remotely relevant now, or ever for that matter.
Surely his Andy-Warholian 15 minutes of fame ended in 1990 with that abortion on celluloid known as "The Adventures of Ford Fairlane."
Epic Fail Bluto ;) XD
Another one bites the dust. Excellent work to Chad! Keep the the entry waiting line to hell long........
The fountainheads of Islamic extremism on rampage all over the world are Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
Ironically, they are our so-called "strategic allies."
"Deby said, "It was our soldiers who killed two big Islamist chiefs in northern Mali," including Abou Zeid"
Unless the root cause of all these problems Saudi Arabia and Pakistan are erased from the map, these battles will be on going ones.
Abou Zeids must know that for their hatings and killings, deaths right away are the answers.
No Jonathan, we are never going to erase Saudi Arabia from the map. The main problem I see with your suggestion is that, how are you going to get to Wal-Mart to buy your Chinese made goods? On a bicycle, take a bus, or heaven forbid, walk? My guess is that you will continue to fill up your car with Saudi Arabean oil turned into gas and continue complaining about said countries and their Islamist sects like Sunnis, and so on and so on like you have been for what seems like forever.
The Chuckster: 1. There will be substitutes for oil. Also oil sources are limited. Could you imagine the advances in IT a few decades back? There are limitations even for oil companies and auto companies to control the events on using oil.
2. Sunni Islamic extremist Frankenstein monsters like Salaffi and Wahhabi, which are being invented, funded, promoted and exported by oil rich Sunni rulers headed by House of Saud are going to erase Saudi Arabia from within. In Pakistan, it is already happening. These can't be controlled as some like Bushes, McCains, Hillarys, Kerrys imagine.
3. But for NATO forces help, Saddam would have wiped out Saudi Arabia from the map.
4. Too much of extremism especially of religion did not survive for long. In ideology, you have communism is an example.
5. Even Allah has predicted the demise of Islam. Most Muslims are in denial on this Allah's prediction.
Jonathan, Islam has a great plan on how to take over the world and they have been using it very well for the last 1500 years. first they send in the Warriors ,who go in and burn whole villages and either Kill or convert all of the people, then they start spreading to the next village until they have a large area under their control , then they pass Islamic laws , making it unlawful to be any other religion but Islam and punishable by death, if you every convert back to another religion. This is still going on today and excepted by the civilized world , nobody seems to care. And the whole time the world has given this religion a nice name" The Religion Of Peace". Seems contradictive to me but hey , it works for them. Islam , the religion of peace, coming to a town near you , soon!!!!!
joe: Commies were talking on similar terms. Communism as an ideology had the shortest life span.
As Islam has become most violent, its end will be similar!
But for NATO forces, Saddam would have wiped out Saudi Arabia, fountainhead of Islamic extremism, from the map.
There will be certain events which will lead to Islam's death.
Here Hillarys and co can't control or jump anywhere!
47 years old? All those years of dirt licking with his ass in the air really told on him.
Didn't you hear, 47 is the new 70.
Maybe he is ageing in goat years or camel years.
He looks like an old goat at 47--must be 'goat-years', Bluto.
Seems like in the past 5 yrs or so more of these leaders and the #2 men have been getting killed. Guess those drones are either pin-pointing the targets or the use of drones launching rockets are doing a good job. But either way, it's going to take a long time to kill all of the terrorists off.
They are not going after the people who fiance them, nor leaders of countries that help hid and support them. Until they do, it will be continuous war. Which should please the YELLOW ELEPHANTS.
"He reportedly joined the brutal, and now defunct, Armed Islamic Group that massacred whole villages in northern Algeria, then joined the Salafist Group for Call and Combat that morphed into al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb in 2006."
Most of those killed in villages must be Muslims themselves.
We (all non-Muslims, sane Muslims, females, minority sect/tribes Muslims) should all join hands against Abu Zeids or else these people will go on hating and killing all over the world.
Fountainheads of all these problems are oil rich Sunni rulers starting from House of Saud (responsible for inventing, funding and exporting Salaffi and Wahhabi Sunni extremist versions through their Salaffi and Wahhabi mosques all over the world) and Pakistan.
These have become dangerous tigers!
SallyANN:
Here is a new word for you: ineptocracy (in-ep-tocâ-ra-cy) -
a system of government where the least capable to lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a diminishing number of producers.
Ohmygod, AK: Brilliant! sounds like the way the US is going
Sallyann , you make an excellent point but we cannot go after the leaders , they are our Allies. Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt ,On and on and on!!!!
Another one bites the dust!!! Sharing on The Platzner Post Facebook, and Twitter.
Of course, nobody is certain this guy was killed, so we have to trust someone who 'was not authorized to talk to the media' again. This is also an easy way for terrorists to get away -- faking their own deaths, only to show up again in some other area. We'll just wait and see if his email account stays active.
Cutting the head off of the Snake is the very best approach to war. Besides putting confusion into the enemies ranks, it keeps our finest young people from being sent to their deaths, as in Iraq. The only problem here is, this snake pit has many, many heads.
Iraqi wars were most foolish. They were done for wrong people and wrong causes.
Jona ; The first one, " Desert Storm " was good as it was a UN action and we were only a part of it. Yes a large part but only a part.
Dick Cheney's second Iraq mess was just for billions of dollars in no bid contracts to his Hellava Burton Company and for nothing else.
I'll bet the camels, goats, and sheep are now very relieved with the news of the death of yet another inbred, dirty, psychopathic murderer and animal rapist. Rumor has it that he was especially fond of pigs, because Islamic law only says you can't eat them. Yes, he did put lipstick on his pigs, as well as eyeliner, mascara, and blond wigs. He did get quite annoyed at the repeated question, "Are you done yet?" from the pigs, especially when it came from the male ones.
Since it was Chad...did they hang him?
No idea who Chad is, but good job dude.
Instead of reporting the European invader of Mali, the French troop, killed the alleged Al Queda leader, the media regurgitate the propaganda that Chad troops did the deed. Borrowing a ruse from the Americans, the French colonialists also exploited the 'anti-Terrorism' as an excuse to invade a Third World nation.
The French return to Mali under the pretense of anti-terrorism is no different than the French re-invaded Indo China after WWWII when the defeated Japanese troops returned home and the Vietnamese people formed their own government to secure the resources and wealth for themselves. When Indo China was under French rule, the French colonialists extracted the enormous quantity of rubber and minerals for the benefit of the French empire. Mali is but one French colony in Africa. Gradually, the French troops, especially its notorious Foreign Legion, withdrew but the puppet government remained to ensure the supply of Mali's natural wealth to the French colonialists. Just this year alone, Mali's gold mining has produced a record 50 tons of the precious metal and the French colonists wanted to ensure the renegade Mali government return to the former puppet government under its control.
The Mali renegades must defeat the French like the Vietnamese who defeated the French in Diem Bien Phu if Mali's resources are to benefit the people of Mali. Otherwise, Mali will remain another example of an African nation exploited by the European colonists.
Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah! Your trolling attempt is truly lame, and it looks like you use the same writer as Kim Jong Unbelievably Fat Punk.
Look at that Arab bastard! Making some of the poorest people in the world ever more miserable. Arab Muslims look down blacks and use the same word for "slave" as for "black." They created devastation in the Sudan and now here. Horrible people, horrible religion.
If the guy in the photo 'is suspected to be 47 years old" then I must be over 200 years old. Dude must have lived a hard life.
NBC appears to be worried about a leadership gap in this particular al Qaeda terrorist franchise. But don't worry, Islamic extremists are waiting in line to take this dead psychopath's place. Radical Moslems are waging wars of aggression around the globe for world domination and to terminate all religions other than their perverted version of Islam. They will kill every man, woman and child that gets in their way. Moslem supremists will murder every Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Confuscist, Jew, Atheist and even moderate Moslem they can get their filthy hands on in order to frighten the rest of the population into submission. The good people and decent nations of the world must defeat radical Islam or civilization is in peril.
Good bye to one more dead psychopath.
Too bad we can't have videos of his final moments, screaming in agony until his eyes popped out of their sockets.
Africans have for too long had to suffer under Arab Muslims attempts to steal their countries. These Muslims have forced conversions murdered the black African people and it is time they have the power to fight back.
Remember Darfur remember all the slain Africans by Arab Muslims who have even slaughtered other Muslims in the name of their religion.
Good for the Chad soldiers a job well done..