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French and Malian forces have retaken the northern Malian cities of Gao and Timbuktu from Islamist rebels, security officials said Monday.
Coalition troops, backed by French warplanes, took the airport in Timbuktu early Monday and moved into the city center, which had been held by the Islamist rebels since June.
Kachin rebels have lost the last major stronghold protecting their headquarters in Laiza, sparking fears that the town — under rebel control for the past 50 years — may soon fall to government troops and force refugees into China.
The outpost of Hka Ya Bum, the most strategic peak in a mountain range five miles west of Laiza, fell on Saturday after days of heavy bombardment by the Burmese forced rebel soldiers with the Kachin Independence Army to withdraw to positions farther south.
Officials in Afghanistan say at least 10 people — including eight police officers — were killed when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb.
At least two men who had been detained by the police were also killed in the explosion late January 26 in the southern city of Kandahar.
French forces, backed by US logistical support, headed for the mystical town of Timbuktu on Sunday, scattering the remaining al-Qaeda backed rebels seeking to create a new Afghanistan in the desert nation of Mali.
Saturday, the French military’s website reported the capture of Gao, the last major town held by the Islamists.
French-led forces seized control of an airport and a key bridge in Mali’s northern city of Gao on Saturday, making significant inroads into the Islamist stronghold.
French forces have taken control of the airport and a key bridge in the radical Islamist stronghold of Gao, the French defense minister said Saturday, marking a significant inroad into the heart of territory held by the al-Qaeda-linked extremists.