French troops advance towards Mali’s rebel-held northern regions
21 Jan 2013 6:40 AM IST
French troops on Sunday advanced towards Mali’s Islamist-held north as Russia and Canada offered to help transport French and African soldiers to boost the Paris-led offensive.
The progress towards the jihadist strongholds came amid reports that the al-Qaeda linked militants were abandoning some of their positions and converging on the mountainous region of Kidal, their northernmost bastion, 1,500 kilometres from Bamako and near the border with Algeria.
‘The deployment towards the north... which began 24 hours ago, is on course with troops inside the towns of Niono and Sevare,’ Lieutenant Colonel Emmanuel Dosseur told reporters.
Niono is about 350 kilometres north-east of the Malian capital and 60 kilometres south of Diabaly, which was seized nearly a week ago by Islamists and then heavily bombed by French planes.
Sevare has a strategically important airport which could help serve as a base for operations further north. It is about 630 kilometres north-east of Bamako.
The town is also near Konna, whose seizure by Islamists on January 10 sparked the French military intervention in the former colony against the forces occupying northern Mali for about nine months.
‘We are in a phase of pushing forward,’ said a French lieutenant-colonel in charge of operations in Niono and the town of Diabaly, whose fate remained unclear on Sunday amid conflicting claims over whether the Islamists there had been routed.
The progress towards the jihadist strongholds came amid reports that the al-Qaeda linked militants were abandoning some of their positions and converging on the mountainous region of Kidal, their northernmost bastion, 1,500 kilometres from Bamako and near the border with Algeria.
‘The deployment towards the north... which began 24 hours ago, is on course with troops inside the towns of Niono and Sevare,’ Lieutenant Colonel Emmanuel Dosseur told reporters.
Niono is about 350 kilometres north-east of the Malian capital and 60 kilometres south of Diabaly, which was seized nearly a week ago by Islamists and then heavily bombed by French planes.
Sevare has a strategically important airport which could help serve as a base for operations further north. It is about 630 kilometres north-east of Bamako.
The town is also near Konna, whose seizure by Islamists on January 10 sparked the French military intervention in the former colony against the forces occupying northern Mali for about nine months.
‘We are in a phase of pushing forward,’ said a French lieutenant-colonel in charge of operations in Niono and the town of Diabaly, whose fate remained unclear on Sunday amid conflicting claims over whether the Islamists there had been routed.
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