The al-Qaeda-linked North African warlord Abou Zeid has been killed in combat with French troops in Mali.
In a statement Saturday the office of French President Francois Hollande said the death was "definitively confirmed" and that Abou Zeid's death "marks an important step in the fight against terrorism in the Sahel."
Chad's president had said earlier this month that Chadian troops had killed Abou Zeid while fighting to dislodge an al-Qaeda affiliate in northern Mali.
French officials have maintained for weeks that Abou Zeid was "probably" dead but waited to conduct DNA tests to verify.
Abdelhamid Abou Zeid, thought to be 47, was a pillar of the southern realm of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, responsible for the death of at least two European hostages and a leader of the extremist takeover of northern Mali.
He was killed in operations in the Adrar des Ifoghas mountains in northern Mali in late February, the statement from Mr Hollande's office said.
The French military moved into Mali on 11 January to push back militants linked to Abou Zeid and other extremist groups who had imposed harsh Islamic rule and who are seen as an international terrorist threat.
Abou Zeid led one of the most violent brigades of al-Qaeda's North African franchise. 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, is unclear.
Abou Zeid held a Frenchman released in February 2010, and another who was executed that July. He has also been linked to the execution of a British hostage in 2009.
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