This undated handout file photo released by Al-Andalus on May 23, 2012 shows Abdelmalek Droukdel, also known as Abu Musab Abdul Wadud, a leader of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), with his fighters in northern Mali. (AL-ANDALUS / AFP)

DAKAR - Al Qaeda’s North Africa branch (AQIM) has appointed a new leader and confirmed the death of its former leader Abdelmalek Droukdel who was killed by the French army in June, SITE Intelligence Group said on Saturday.

US-based SITE, which monitors jihadist websites, said AQIM displayed the dead body of its former leader for the first time in a video.

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The French army killed Droukdel in Mali after hunting him for more than seven years in the Sahel region.

AQIM said that following Droukdel’s death, another Algerian, Sheikh Mujahid Yazid Mubarak, also known as Abu Ubaida Yusuf al-Annabi, was chosen as successor.

The group also confirmed the death of Swiss Beatrice Stockly who was kidnapped from the Malian city of Timbuktu in January 2016.

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