By Lisa Holland, Foreign Affairs Correspondent
Al Qaeda in west Africa has reportedly cast doubt on whether one of the world's most wanted men is dead.
Soldiers from Chad fighting Islamists in Mali had claimed to have killed Mokhtar Belmokhtar – said to be the mastermind behind the recent Algerian hostage crisis.
But a member of Aqim (al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb) told a private Mauritanian news agency it denied claims he had been killed, saying Belmokhtar "is in the Gao region, waging the fight against the enemy".
The spokesman usually writes for jihadist websites, which are often recognised as official mouthpieces of al Qaeda.
Added to this Edouard Guillaud, the head of France's joint chiefs of staff, said he was "extremely cautious" about reports of Belmokhtar's death.
Belmokhtar, nicknamed Mr Marlboro because of his involvement in cigarette smuggling, was born in Algeria in 1972 and claimed he gained combat experience in Afghanistan before returning to his home nation.
The one-eyed gangster had also been dubbed "The Uncatchable" by French intelligence after being linked to a series of kidnappings of foreigners in north Africa over the past decade.
Malian troops in Gao One of the world's most wanted terrorists, he had claimed responsibility for the strike on the In Amenas gas plant in which more than 60 people were killed after troops stormed the complex on January 19.
In a statement read out on Chadian television, armed forces spokesman General Zacharia Gobongue said: "Chadian armed forces operating in northern Mali completely destroyed a terrorist base … The toll included several dead terrorists, including their leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar."
But Edouard Guillaud said al Qaeda's senior field commander in the Sahara Abdelhamid Abou Zeid had 'probably' been killed in Mali.
He said: "It is probable but only probable. We don't have any certainty for the moment but it would be good news."
Mr Guillaud said that Abou Zeid's death could not be confirmed because his body had not been recovered.
Abou Zeid is regarded as one of Aqim's most ruthless operators responsible for the kidnapping of more than 20 Western hostages since 2008.
He is believed to have killed the British hostage Edwin Dyer in 2009 and 78-year-old Frenchman Michael Germaneau in 2010.
After a seven-week campaign French, Chadian and Malian troops have pushed back al Qaeda-linked fighters who had threatened to take control of Mali back to their mountain and desert hideouts.
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