AQIM confirms French killed leader in Mali

Abdelhamid Abou Zeid (screen-grab)

An Al Qaeda source has confirmed the death in Mali of Abdelhamid Abou Zeid, one of the leaders of Aqim, (al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb).
An Aqim militant told the private Mauritanian news agency that he was killed in a French bombing raid last week in the Ifoghas mountains.

The same source insisted however, that another Islamist leader, Mokhtar Belmokhtar, thought to have masterminded the January hostage operation in the Algerian gas plant, was still alive and fighting.

Radio France Internationale’s special envoy in Mali went to Tessalit in the north east on Sunday, where he was shown photographs by a Chadian soldier, showing a blood-drenched body which the soldier declares is the corpse of Mokhtar Belmokhtar.

The Chadian soldiers say they killed Belmokhtar on Saturday in the Ametetai Valley.

French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian announced on French television on Tuesday the death of around 15 Islamist militants after heavy fighting with French and Chadian forces overnight in northeastern Mali

And on Tuesday Admiral Edouard Guillaud told journalists that the French intervention which was launched in January was breaking the back of Aqim and its allies in Mali.

However, the relatives of French hostages being held in the Sahel region are concerned for the safety of their loved ones.

They fear that they could be used as human shields or be executed as reprisal for the deaths of islamist fighters.

Pascale Robert, the grandmother of Pierre Legrand, one of the four French nationals who were seized in Niger, has called on French president François Hollande to declare a “pause in the conflict to allow for talks with the remaining figures”.

French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Monday that there was “every reason to believe” the hostages were still alive.

Read or Listen to this story on the RFI website.

France - Mali -Chad - Article published the Tuesday 05 March 2013 - Latest update : Tuesday 05 March 2013

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R.I.P. - Corporal Cedric Charenton (FR)(Mali,Operation Serval)

"France's defence ministry said 26-year-old Corporal Cedric Charenton was shot dead on Saturday during an assault on an Islamist hideout in the desolate Adrar des Ifoghas mountains near Algeria, the third French soldier killed in the campaign."

these words came from the Ministere De La Defense website, translated with google, sry for some mistakes/errors


 Born August 24, 1986, Corporal Cédric CHARENTON sign a contract as a volunteer in the Army for five years for the 1st Airborne Infantry Regiment on 1 December 2009. Corporal Cédric CHARENTON have served France for more than three years.

After a training period during which he is licensed skydiver March 12, 2010, he joined the 2nd company of the 1st Regiment of Combat Airborne Infantry to serve as a grenadier. Upon his arrival in his new unit, he reveals a very promising profile and excellent soldier. It is raised to the 1st class distinction on 1 July 2010.
...
Just finished his internship, he was appointed July 10, 2011, with his band to join Afghanistan as part of Operation PAMIR within arms task force KAPISA / Battle Group Raptor to replace a group of 1st combat company severely affected. He distinguished himself with his friends for more than three months in the Afghan valleys.
...
Its qualities are unanimously recognized as a soldier and his service are rewarded with a promotion to Corporal April 1, 2012.
Projected in Gabon with his company from June to November 2012, in the 6th battalion of marines, he gives freely throughout the mission, distinguishing himself especially during commando training in jungle.

January 25, 2013, he was selected to participate in the operation SERVAL Mali. On March 2, the unit conducting the search and destruction in the massif of Adrar - more precisely in the valley Ametettai, about fifty miles south of Tessalit - has repeatedly urged during the day of fighting with terrorists. During one of these actions, to 18 hours, while the section amounted to an assault on an enemy position, Corporal Cédric CHARENTON was fatally wounded.

Corporal Cédric CHARENTON held the bronze medal in the national defense, the French Commemorative Medal with Afghanistan clasp medal and non-Article 5 NATO - ISAF.

Aged 26 years, single, was killed in the performance of its mission in the service of France.


official link:
http://www.defense.gouv.fr/terre/a-la-une/mali-deces-du-caporal-cedric-charenton-du-1er-rcp  

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Casualties reported in northern Mali suicide attacks

map by Evan Centanni (www.polgeonow.com)

BAMAKO, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- Suicide bomb attacks caused casualties in northern Mali on Thursday and Friday, the latest in a series launched by rebels this month apparently in a counter- offensive to the Malian army and its allies, according to local sources.

The Malian military reported twin car bomb attacks near the northern town of Tessalit, killing at least five people including civilians and the suicide bombers.

The raid came one day after a suicide car bombing in another northern town of Kidal, killing a guard and the driver.

The suicide attacks were reported amid tensions in Gao, the biggest town in northern Mali, where five rebels were killed in battles with Malian and French troops on Thursday over its control.

The Malian military said the rebels, who lost control of the town last month after occupying it for nine months, managed to enter the city on Wednesday.

The Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) targeted the mayor's office, before repelled by the army.

Gao had previously witnessed two suicide attacks by rebels.

from XINHUA
2013-02-22 18:40:14
Editor: Wang Yuanyuan

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French Troops Capture Key Airport in Northern Mali

French forces battling Islamist militants in northern Mali have taken a strategic airport near the Algerian border.
The French defense ministry said Friday that special forces have seized the airport at Tessalit, a small town in Mali's Kidal region, and are moving to secure the town itself with the help of Chadian troops.

The airport would give French-led forces another base in their fight against the militants, who have fled into the Sahara after losing control of northern Mali's major cities.


Fighting continued elsewhere in Mali Friday.  Outside the city of Gao, a suicide bomber driving a motorcycle blew himself up near a military checkpoint.  One soldier was wounded in the blast.

A local journalist, Soumalia Maiga, ran to the scene as soon as he heard the explosion.

He says the explosion happened less than 10 meters from the checkpoint.  He says people in the town are afraid to go to the market and some are even afraid to go to the mosque for Friday prayers.  He says it is impossible to know whether the bomber was trying to hit the checkpoint or was trying to get inside the town.

The French news agency, AFP, reports that the Islamist group MUJAO claimed responsibility for the attack.

continue and read more from VOA News with some nice photos
February 08, 2013

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