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Tuareg rebels say working with French against 'terrorists'

February 5, 2013 12:31
Tuareg former rebels in Mali said Tuesday they were working with French forces fighting Islamists who have been routed from key strongholds in the north of the country. "In the framework of anti-terrorist coordination put in place with French forces" the former rebels will provide intelligence on "top terrorist officials" they have arrested, a spokesman for the Azawad National Liberation Movement (MNLA), Mossa Ag Attaher, said in the Burkinabe capital Ouagadougou.

France bombs Islamist targets in Mali after Hollande visit

February 3, 2013 17:31
France said it carried out major air strikes Sunday near Kidal, the last bastion of armed extremists chased from Mali's desert north in a lightning French-led offensive, after a whirlwind visit by President Francois Hollande. An army spokesman said 30 warplanes had bombed training and logistics centres run by Islamist extremists overnight in the Tessalit area north of Kidal, where French troops took the airport Wednesday and have been working to secure the town itself.

REFILE-UPDATE 1-Rights allegations in Mali cloud France Hollande's visit

February 1, 2013 13:46
(Adds dropped word "that" in para 3) * French president to fly to Bamako, Timbuktu on Saturday * Amnesty says civilians killed in helicopter strike * Rights groups allege Malian soldiers killed suspects By Richard Valdmanis and Benoit Tessier

Rights allegations in Mali cloud visit by France's Hollande

February 1, 2013 09:46
* French president to fly to Bamako, Timbuktu Saturday * Amnesty says civilians killed in helicopter strike * Rights groups allege Malian soldiers killed suspects By Richard Valdmanis and Benoit Tessier BAMAKO/TIMBUKTU, Mali, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Human rights groups said on Friday a French-led offensive against Islamists in Mali had led to civilian deaths in airstrikes and ethnic reprisals by Malian troops, a day before President Francois Hollande was due to visit the country.

French air strikes hit Islamist bases in north Mali

January 31, 2013 18:00
France said Thursday its warplanes had hit Islamist command posts near the last militant stronghold in northern Mali, as the UN mulled a peacekeeping force to take over the fast-moving French-led operation. Ground troops gathered at the gates of Kidal, a desert outpost that is the last rebel stronghold yet to be fully recaptured, as France said its fighter jets had blasted command centres, training camps and depots run by Islamist extremists in the mountains north of the town.

French air strikes hit Islamist bases in north Mali

January 31, 2013 16:45
France said Thursday its warplanes had hit Islamist command posts near the last militant stronghold in northern Mali, as the UN mulled a peacekeeping force to take over the fast-moving French-led operation. Ground troops gathered at the gates of Kidal, a desert outpost that is the last rebel stronghold yet to be fully recaptured, as France said its fighter jets had blasted command centres, training camps and depots run by Islamist extremists in the mountains north of the town.

French air strikes hit Islamist bases in north Mali

January 31, 2013 13:45
France said Thursday its warplanes had hit Islamist command posts near the last militant stronghold in northern Mali, as the UN mulled a peacekeeping force to take over the fast-moving French-led operation. Ground troops gathered at the gates of Kidal, a desert outpost that is the last rebel stronghold yet to be fully recaptured, as France said its fighter jets had blasted command centres, training camps and depots run by Islamist extremists in the mountains north of the town.

UPDATE 1-French troops deploy in last of Mali rebel strongholds

January 30, 2013 10:00
* French troops secure Kidal airport, operation ongoing * French, Malian forces took Gao, Timbuktu unopposed * Fabius says French troops will leave "very quickly" * Reconciling Tuaregs with rest of Mali may prove tough (Writes through with details, quotes from MNLA, analyst, Timbuktu manuscripts) By Richard Valdmanis

UPDATE 1-French troops deploy to last of Mali rebel strongholds

January 30, 2013 04:45
(Adds details, background, pvs DAKAR) DOUENTZA, Mali, Jan 30 (Reuters) - French troops have taken control of the airport in the northern Malian town of Kidal, the last rebel stronghold in the north, the French army and a local official told Reuters on Wednesday. Kidal would be the last of northern Mali's major towns to be retaken by French forces after they reached Gao and Timbuktu earlier this week in a campaign to drive al Qaeda-linked Islamists from Mali's north, which it has said had become a safe haven for extremists.

UPDATE 1-Mali MNLA Tuareg rebels say control Kidal, Islamists gone

January 28, 2013 11:00
(Adds details, background) DAKAR, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Secular Malian Tuareg MNLA rebels said on Monday they were now in control of the northern town of Kidal after Islamist militant fighters abandoned it. "Now it is us who are in control," Colonel Mohamed Ag Najim, the MNLA's military commander, told Reuters by satellite phone from the northeastern town. Another MNLA rebel contacted in Kidal by Reuters gave the same account, but there was no immediate independent confirmation.
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