French and Malian troops on Monday entered the central frontline town of Diabaly as they pushed north in their bid to flush out radical Al Qaeda-linked rebels who have threatened reprisal attacks.
Paris said the aim of the 11-day-old military offensive is the ‘total reconquest’ of Mali, whose north was seized 10 months ago by Islamist hardliners who imposed their brutal version of sharia law in key desert towns.
The French onslaught, backed by embattled Malian troops, forged ahead despite threats of further retaliation from jihadists after a stunning hostage attack at a gas plant in neighboring Algeria resulted in scores of deaths.
A convoy of about 30 armored vehicles transporting some 300 Malian and French troops moved into the key frontline town of Diabaly, 400 kilometres (250 miles) north of the capital Bamako, early on Monday, meeting no resistance.
Diabaly has been the theater of air strikes and fighting since it was seized by Islamists a week ago.
A colonel in the Malian army said earlier that a ‘fringe of the Diabaly population adheres to the jihadists’ theories and we must be very careful in the coming hours’.
Paris said the aim of the 11-day-old military offensive is the ‘total reconquest’ of Mali, whose north was seized 10 months ago by Islamist hardliners who imposed their brutal version of sharia law in key desert towns.
The French onslaught, backed by embattled Malian troops, forged ahead despite threats of further retaliation from jihadists after a stunning hostage attack at a gas plant in neighboring Algeria resulted in scores of deaths.
A convoy of about 30 armored vehicles transporting some 300 Malian and French troops moved into the key frontline town of Diabaly, 400 kilometres (250 miles) north of the capital Bamako, early on Monday, meeting no resistance.
Diabaly has been the theater of air strikes and fighting since it was seized by Islamists a week ago.
A colonel in the Malian army said earlier that a ‘fringe of the Diabaly population adheres to the jihadists’ theories and we must be very careful in the coming hours’.