(Image source: The New York Times )   BY ALEX MALLIN   ANCHOR CANDICE AVILES   Mokhtar Belmokhtar—one of the world’s most wanted men—was reportedly killed Saturday by Chad troops. The Telegraph’s David Blair says Belmokhtar’s death would strike a major blow to the Islamist militant operations in North Africa. “In January he carried out the attack on an Algerian oil and gas installation, which led to the capture of hundreds of hostages, and 37 of whom were killed.” The attack made the prominent radical with ties to Al Qaeda a high priority target for many countries, including the U.S. Three of the hostages killed in Algeria were Americans.  Belmokhtar was known as Mr. Marlboro for his cigarette smuggling operations, but Chadian officials announced his death on state television as the second major victory this weekend against jihadist forces in the region. Chad’s military spokesman said they also killed Abu Zeid, another important Al-Qaeda commander. “Since the start of this war, for the first time our soldiers have been successful and killed the two main jihadist leaders who were located in the north of Mali.” The CIA has wanted to catch Belmokhtar since the early 1990s, but he earned the title of the “uncatchable man” after several false death and capture reports .   It’s probably the reason the White House is waiting to confirm Belmokhtar’s death until DNA test results are confirmed.  Belmokhtar’s death would signal a major victory for Chad and French forces who have been fighting to remove terrorist groups from North Africa. French officials say they have killed over 40 jihadists in the region just in the last week.