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Soumana Boura, a senior member of the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, was killed in a drone attack, according to the French army.
The French army says it has killed one of the suspects murder Six French assistants and their two Nigerian drivers were in Niger last year.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Ministry of Armed Forces identified the person killed on Monday as Soumana Boura, a senior member of the Islamic State in Greater Sahara, who led a group of dozens of fighters in western Niger.
Six members of the ACTED NGO and their guides were killed in August 2020 while visiting Koure National Park, a wildlife shelter 65 km (40 miles) from the Nigerian capital, Niamey.
A statement from the ministry said Boura had filmed the murder of eight victims and oversaw the release of footage.
Chief of Staff Pascal Ianni told AFP news agency that Boura was killed by a drone attack while riding a motorbike.
France has thousands of troops deployed in the Sahel, in the arid region south of the Sahara Desert, amid escalating conflict involving multiple armed groups, military campaigns by national armies and international partners, and local militias.
The unrest began in 2012 when the uprising of al-Qaeda-linked Tuareg rebels in northern Mali was quickly hijacked.
The presence of thousands of foreign troops has failed to stop the violence, which has engulfed nearby Burkina Faso and Niger, exploiting the poverty of marginalized groups and sparking tensions between ethnic groups.
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