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February 11, 2013 01:30
Explosion in Gao, northern Mali, hours after fighting: AFP mba/jj/ac

URGENT ¥¥¥ Street battle erupts in Gao between Mali troops, Islamists

February 10, 2013 10:45
A gun battle between Malian soldiers and Islamist rebels erupted Sunday in the streets of Gao, the largest city in northern Mali, which has been rocked by suicide bombings each of the past two days. Troops and rebels were trading gunfire early in the afternoon in the centre of the city, near the central police station, an AFP correspondent said. sd-thm/jhb/wat

Gunfire, explosions heard in Mali's Gao -residents

February 10, 2013 10:45
Gao, Mali, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Bursts of gunfire and several explosions were heard in the northern Malian town of Gao on Sunday, as French and Malian troops tightened security precautions following two suicide bomb attacks in two days, residents and a Reuters reporter said.

Suicide blast in north Mali's Gao, no other wounded

February 10, 2013 06:45
An explosion that rocked the north Malian city of Gao late Saturday was a suicide bombing at an army checkpoint, the day after a similar attack at the same spot, said a Malian soldier, reporting no other wounded. "It was a suicide bomber who blew himself up," said the soldier, who was at the checkpoint at the northern entrance to Gao, which French-led forces reclaimed from Islamist rebels on January 26. The bomber's severed head was still lying on the ground at the scene Sunday morning.

Malian troops foil second suicide bomb attack in Gao

February 10, 2013 06:15
GAO, Mali, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Malian troops shot at a suicide bomber who then blew up at a checkpoint at the northern city of Gao late on Saturday, the second attempted suicide attack on the same location in two days, a Malian military source and a witness said on Sunday. "It was another suicide bomber ... the soldiers saw him coming and shot at him and he exploded," the military source, stationed at the checkpoint on the road coming into Gao from Bourem to the north, told Reuters.

URGENT ¥¥¥ Major explosion heard near Gao, northern Mali: AFP

February 9, 2013 21:15
A major explosion was heard late Saturday from the northern Malian city of Gao, which French-led forces recently recaptured from the Islamists, an AFP correspondent reported. The blast went off at around 11:00 pm (2300 GMT) and a French military source said it had happened some 10 kilometres (six miles) away from the French military base at the city's airport. mba/jj/jk

February 9, 2013 07:00
Two youths in suicide vests arrested in Malian city Gao: witness sd/jhb/yad

Grisly suicide attack at dawn strikes fear into Malians

February 8, 2013 16:00
The sky above Gao had just begun to lighten on Friday when a young man on a motorbike navigated a dirt road on the outskirts of the town at the edge of the Sahara desert, explosives strapped to his chest. He drove past a large sign bearing the black and white emblem of the Islamists who until recently occupied this town, clutching a mortar bomb as he neared a checkpoint -- a few tyres across the road -- manned by a group of Malian soldiers. A few of the troops saw him coming, moments before the explosion shattered the quiet of the dawn.

French clash with Islamists in north Mali: minister

February 6, 2013 05:15
Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian vowed Wednesday that French and Malian troops would chase down Islamist militants holding out around Gao. Confirming that French and Malian troops had clashed Tuesday with Islamist militants near the main northern Mali town, Le Drian admitted the rebels were still resisting. "There were clashes yesterday around Gao," Le Drian said on Europe 1 radio. "Once our troops, supported by Malian forces, started patrols around the the towns that we have taken, they met residual jihadist groups who are still fighting.

Schools reopen in north Mali town of Gao

February 4, 2013 09:16
Schools reopened Monday in Gao in northern Mali after French and Malian troops moved in and armed Islamists who had held the town for seven months fled, an AFP photographer said. Girls and boys of all ages made their way to public and private schools in Gao, the largest town in northern Mali which was deserted under Jihadist rule by many of its 70,000 residents. At the primary school in the eastern Aljanabandia district, "about 600 pupils" out of a normal attendance of more than 1,100 children turned up for school, its headmaster Abdou Cisse told AFP.
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