French ground troops advanced towards the north of Mali on Wednesday in a bid to attack al-Qaeda linked groups’ stronghold, as Paris admitted the situation was toughest in the west.
French ground troops advanced towards the north of Mali on Wednesday in a bid to attack al-Qaeda linked groups’ stronghold, as Paris admitted the situation was toughest in the west, days after the European country launched a military intervention on the African state.
French armored units and Malian government forces were heading towards the town of Diabaly, which militants seized earlier this week even as French gunships and fighter jets pounded their strongholds further north.
"Several hundred Malian and French soldiers left Niono (south of Diabaly) to take" back the town, said a local government official in Niono, while a security source announced plans to "take back Diabaly with the French."
French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian simply confirmed that ground troops had begun their ground offensive on the sixth day of the former colonial power's intervention in Mali but was short on specifics.
However, he admitted that the 800 troops already deployed in Mali faced a long and tough battle against determined fighters whose number he estimated at up to 1,300.
"It's a little more difficult in the west, where we have the toughest, most fanatical and best-organized groups. It's under way there but it's difficult," he said.
Meanwhile, French President Francois Hollande said his forces would crush the Qaeda militants.
"What do we plan to do with the terrorists? Destroy them. Capture them, if possible," he said on Tuesday during a visit to the United Arab Emirates.
On Tuesday, French soldiers drove out of the capital Bamako in around 30 armored vehicles. Another convoy was also seen leaving Bamako in a northerly direction.
WEST AFRICAN TROOPS TO DEPLOY
A company of 190 African troops is expected to arrive in Mali Wednesday, part of a Nigerian contribution that will eventually total 900.
Nigeria is leading the regional force, to which Benin, Ghana, Niger, Senegal, Burkina Faso and Togo have also pledged numbers.
West African army chiefs in Bamako were expected to resume talks on Wednesday on the roll-out of the UN-mandated, 3,300-strong regional intervention force in the former French colony.
Mali has been effectively split in two since March 2012, when militants took advantage of a short-lived coup in Bamako and an offensive launched by Tuareg separatists in the north to seize half of the country.
Western countries had voiced fears that Mali's north could become Al-Qaeda's leading global safe haven and be used to launch attacks on targets in Europe.
