Photo Credit: Reuters/Joe Penney
(Reuters) – French and Malian troops fought Islamists on the streets of Gao and a car bomb exploded in Kidal on Thursday, as fighting showed little sign of abating weeks before France plans to start withdrawing some forces.
Reuters reporters in Gao in the country’s desert north said French and Malian forces fired at the mayor’s office with heavy machineguns after Islamists were reported to have infiltrated the Niger River town during a night of explosions and gunfire.
In Kidal, a remote far north town where the French are hunting Islamists, residents said a car bomb killed two. A French defense ministry source reported no French casualties.
French troops dispatched to root out rebels with links to al Qaeda swiftly retook northern towns last month. But they now risk being bogged down in a guerrilla conflict as they try to help Mali’s weak army counter bombings and raids.
“There was an infiltration by Islamists overnight and there is shooting all over the place,” Sadou Harouna Diallo, Gao’s mayor, told Reuters by telephone, saying he was not in his office at the time.
Reuters has the full article
