On February 19, a French soldier (member of the French Foreign Legion) was killed during heavy fighting in the Adrar des Ifoghas mountains in the far North East of Mali near the Algerian border. On March 3, a French paratrooper was killed in the same area and the Chadian army announced the killing of the two Islamic Algerian leaders, Abdelhamid Abou Zeid and Mokhtar Belmokhtar. This was not confirmed by the French army. On March 5, the death of Abou Zeid was confirmed by a member of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).