Shebab Somali militants on Monday posted a picture on their Twitter account of an alleged French commando chief killed in a botched hostage rescue operation.
The picture showed the body of the alleged commander, dressed in a black button-up shirt, and khaki pants, lying face up on an orange surface next to presumably his combat gear. A small crucifix showed from his neck.
A second photo, also posted on the Shebab Twitter feed, showed the dead man in the same position but with bullet magazines and an assortment of guns and other tools of war strewn around and on top of him.
"François Hollande, was it worth it?" read a caption accompanying the second picture.
The Somalian rebel group said earlier on Monday a second French commando has died from wounds in Somalia after a failed attempt at the weekend to rescue a French agent held hostage by Shabaab since 2009.
"The second commando died from his bullet wounds," Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, spokesman for al Shabaab's military operations said.
The Al Qaeda linked group maintained that the hostage, Denis Allex, who France says it believes was killed during the operation, was still alive.
The militants put up fierce resistance when French special forces went into southern Somalia by helicopter under the cover of darkness on Saturday to try to free Allex.
There was some confusion over the exact outcome of the rescue mission, with France saying at one point that one commando had died and the other gone missing and later saying that both appeared to be dead.