Slain AQIM commander Abdelhamid Abou Zeid has been replaced by Djamel Okacha (a.k.a. Yahia Abu El Hamam), an Algerian who is very close to AQIM leader Abdelmalek Droukdel. Okacha was appointed by Droukdel to head AQIM’s Mali operations last fall. The reported death of Mokhtar Belmokhtar is still unconfirmed.
