This picture released by the French Army Communications Audiovisual office (ECPAD) shows a French Mirage 2000 D aircraft refueling while flying to N'Djamena overnight January 11 to 12, after taking off from the French military base of Nancy. The battle to retake Mali's north from the al-Qaida-linked groups controlling it began in earnest Saturday, after hundreds of French forces deployed to the country and began aerial bombardments to drive back the Islamic extremists from a town seized earlier this week. (AP Photo/ R.Nicolas-Nelson, Ecpad)
This picture released by the French Army Communications Audiovisual office (ECPAD) shows a French Mirage 2000 D aircraft refueling while flying to N'Djamena overnight January 11 to 12, after taking off from the French military base of Nancy. The battle to retake Mali's north from the al-Qaida-linked groups controlling it began in earnest Saturday, after hundreds of French forces deployed to the country and began aerial bombardments to drive back the Islamic extremists from a town seized earlier this week. (AP Photo/ R.Nicolas-Nelson, Ecpad)
This picture released by the French Army Communications Audiovisual office (ECPAD) shows French soldiers of the 21st Marine Infantry Regiment boarding to Bamako, the capital from Mali, at the N'Djamena's airport, in Chad, Friday, Jan. 11, 2013. The battle to retake Mali's north from the al-Qaida-linked groups controlling it began in earnest Saturday, after hundreds of French forces deployed to the country and began aerial bombardments to drive back the Islamic extremists from a town seized earlier this week. (AP Photo/ R.Nicolas-Nelson, Ecpad)
This picture released by the French Army Communications Audiovisual office (ECPAD) shows French fighter pilot getting ready to take off with a Mirage 2000 D, at Kossei camp in N'Djamena, Chad, Friday, Jan. 11, 2013. The battle to retake Mali's north from the al-Qaida-linked groups controlling it began in earnest Saturday, after hundreds of French forces deployed to the country and began aerial bombardments to drive back the Islamic extremists from a town seized earlier this week. (AP Photo/ R.Nicolas-Nelson, Ecpad)
This picture released by the French Army Communications Audiovisual office (ECPAD) shows French fighter pilots walking toward their Mirage 2000 D, at Kossei camp in N'Djamena, Chad, Friday, Jan. 11, 2013. The battle to retake Mali's north from the al-Qaida-linked groups controlling it began in earnest Saturday, after hundreds of French forces deployed to the country and began aerial bombardments to drive back the Islamic extremists from a town seized earlier this week. (AP Photo/ R.Nicolas-Nelson, Ecpad)
This picture released by the French Army Communications Audiovisual office (ECPAD) shows French soldiers of the 21st Marine Infantry Regiment preparing to board for Bamako, the capital from Mali, at the N'Djamena's airport, in Chad, Friday, Jan. 11, 2013. The battle to retake Mali's north from the al-Qaida-linked groups controlling it began in earnest Saturday, after hundreds of French forces deployed to the country and began aerial bombardments to drive back the Islamic extremists from a town seized earlier this week. (AP Photo/ R.Nicolas-Nelson, Ecpad)
BAMAKO, Mali (AP) ? Troops from Mali's neighbors are expected to join hundreds of French soldiers in the battle to push back Islamic extremists holding Mali's north, a fight that in its first two days has left at least 11 civilians dead, including three children who threw themselves into a river and drowned trying to avoid falling bombs.
Niger, Burkina Faso, Senegal and Nigeria agreed on Saturday to send soldiers, a day after France authorized airstrikes, dispatching fighter jets from neighboring Chad and bombing rebel positions north of Mopti, the last Malian-controlled town.
State television announced that the African troops, including as many as 500 each from Burkina Faso and Niger, are expected to begin arriving on Sunday. Britain has offered the use of its transport planes in order to help bring in the soldiers, according to a statement released by Prime Minister David Cameron's office in London.
The African soldiers will work alongside French special forces, including a contingent that arrived Saturday in Bamako in order to secure the capital against retaliatory attacks by the al-Qaida-linked rebel groups occupying Mali's northern half. National television broadcast footage of the French troops walking single-file out of the Bamako airport on Saturday, weapons strapped to their bodies. Some carried them like skis, against their shoulder.
The military operation began Friday, after the fall of the town of Konna on Thursday to the al-Qaida-linked groups. Konna is only 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of the government's line of control, which begins at the town of Mopti, home to the largest concentration of Malian troops in the country.
The United Nations had cautioned that a military intervention needed to be properly planned, and outlined a step-by-step process that diplomats said would delay the operation until at least September of this year.
The rebels' decision to push south, and the swift fall of Konna, changed everything. After an appeal for help from Mali's president, French President Francois Hollande sent in the Mirage jets and combat helicopters, pounding rebel convoys and destroying a militant base. Footage of the jets provided to French television stations showed the triangle-shaped aircrafts screaming across the sky over northern Mali. French newspaper Le Monde reported that the jets dropped at least two, 250-kilogram (550-pound) bombs over militant targets.
The human toll has not yet been calculated, but a communique read on state television late Saturday said that at least 11 Malians were killed in Konna.
Sory Diakite, the mayor of Konna, says the dead included children who drowned after they threw themselves into a river in an effort to escape the bombardments.
"Others were killed inside their courtyards, or outside their homes. People were trying to flee to find refuge. Some drowned in the river. At least three children threw themselves in the river. They were trying to swim to the other side. And there has been significant infrastructure damage," said the mayor, who fled the town with his family and is now in Bamako.
Human rights groups have warned that any military intervention will exact a humanitarian price. The nation of Mali, and the international community, found itself in a Catch-22 because every passing week that the intervention was delayed has allowed the rebels affiliated with al-Qaida to dig into the terrain, and prepare for war. The rebels occupied Mali's northern half, an area larger than Afghanistan, in the chaos following a coup in Mali's capital last March.
With no clear leader at the head of the country, Mali's military simply gave up when the rebels arrived, retreating hundreds of miles to the south without a fight. In the nine months since then, the extremists have imposed their austere and severe form Islam, and those who disobey their rules are beaten with whips and camel switches. Public amputations of the hands of thieves have become a regular spectacle.
They have also used their nine-month siege of the north to dig into the landscape, creating elaborate defenses, including tunnels and ramparts using the construction equipment abandoned by fleeing construction crews.
In addition to the civilians, a French pilot was killed after the Islamists downed his combat helicopter, in a sign of how dangerous the terrain has become even for trained, special forces.
___
Associated Press writers Baba Ahmed in Bamako, Robbie Corey-Boulet in Ivory Coast and Cassandra Vinograd in London contributed to this report.
Associated Pressbaa samoyed kenny powers kenny powers carl hagelin triple play james neal
No comments:
Post a Comment