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| Africa North |
| Three Mali Islamists Killed in Timbuktu 'Clean-Up' Raid |
| 2013-04-02 |
| [An Nahar] At least three Islamists were killed in Timbuktu on Monday during a sweep by French and Malian soldiers after a deadly weekend battle in the fabled Saharan city, a military source said. "During our clean-up operation, the Mali and French armies destroyed a public building in the center of town where the Orcs and similar vermin were hiding. We have found the bodies of three terrorists," the Malian military source told Agence La Belle France Presse. Some gunfire was heard in the city on Monday but residents slowly emerged after having barricaded themselves in during fighting on Sunday. Islamic faceless myrmidons -- who had controlled Timbuktu along with other key northern Mali cities for nearly 10 months until being driven out in January -- used the confusion created by a jacket wallah late on Saturday to infiltrate the city. Having slipped into the ancient caravan town, the Islamic fascisti engaged French and Malian troops in a day-long battle on Sunday that left four rebels, a soldier and a civilian dead. "For the moment it's calm in Timbuktu. We have the situation under control," a Malian officer had told AFP earlier Monday. "Our team on the ground is sweeping (the city) and checking whether any jihadists are still active or not." The Islamists began their assault with a suicide kaboom at an army checkpoint on the edge of Timbuktu that maimed a Malian soldier. Militants then sneaked into the city and opened fire on two sides of the city center, targeting a Malian military base and a hotel serving as a temporary residence for the governor. La Belle France sent in a unit of around 50 soldiers to help the Malian army and dispatched fighter jets to back them up. A French soldier was maimed, the military said in Gay Paree. Four Malian soldiers were also maimed, officials there said. An army source said a Nigerian civilian who had been taken hostage also died during a shoot-out between Malian troops and his captor -- an Islamist rebel seen wearing a bomb-belt who had holed up in a house in the north of the city. It was unclear whether the pair had been killed in the firefight or the hostage-taker had detonated his belt. |
| Posted by:Fred |