Mali troops sweep Timbuktu for Islamist rebels after battle

BAMAKO: Malian troops swept Timbuktu for remaining Islamist fighters after a weekend battle that left seven dead and forced France to dispatch reinforcements and fighter jets to help Mali’s army.

By late Sunday relative calm had been restored, after Islamist militants used the chaos created by a suicide bombing on Saturday night to infiltrate the city and engage French and Malian troops in a day-long battle that left four more rebels, a soldier and a civilian dead.




“For the moment it’s calm in Timbuktu. We have the situation under control,” a Malian officer told AFP. “Our team on the ground is sweeping the city and checking whether any jihadists are still active or not.”

A resident confirmed the fighting had died down.

“There are no more gunshots, but everyone is staying home,” he said.

The Islamists began their assault late Saturday with a suicide bombing at an army checkpoint on the edge of Timbuktu that wounded a Malian soldier.

Militants then infiltrated the fabled Saharan city, which French and Malian soldiers recaptured from Islamist rebels in January after a 10-month occupation.

They opened fire on two sides of the city centre, targeting a Malian military base and a hotel serving as a temporary residence for the governor.

France sent in a unit of around 50 soldiers to help the Malian army and dispatched fighter jets to back them up.

Three Islamists and one Malian soldier were killed in the fighting, officials said.


A French soldier was wounded, the military said in Paris. Four Malian soldiers were also wounded, officials there said.

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