[An Nahar] French jets pounded the Islamist strongholds of Gao and Kidal in northern Mali on Sunday, forcing hard boyz to flee on the third day of a game-changing intervention that has been met with relief by the population and spurred the region into action."Stopping the bully boyz -- it's done," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said. "Today we started taking care of the terrorists' rear bases."
Rafale fighter planes struck bases used by al-Qaeda-linked fighters in Gao, the main city in northern Mali and the base from which ethnic-Tuareg rebels a year ago launched the offensive that touched off Mali's descent into chaos.