[Iran Press TV] Malian army troops have pulled out from the key northern town of Kidal after intense fighting with local Tuareg fighters.The festivities took place early on Wednesday near the governor's office of the flashpoint city.
The fighting erupted after a weekend of violence, which killed dozens of people.
Mohammed Ag Rhissa, one of the leaders of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), said that his group had taken "control of the whole town of Kidal" and that "we have prisoners."
Meanwhile,
...back at the cheese factory, there was only one thought in the mouse's mind:
I can do this! I can do this!Then the trap sprung...
UN Secretary General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan...
called for an immediate ceasefire in the northern town.
The appeal came after a UN source in Mali reported that the fighters had killed or captured a number of government troops.
"The noise of gunfire has stopped... There are prisoners and deaths among the Malian army's ranks," the source said.
On Tuesday, the UN Security Council also condemned the recent deadly festivities in Mali, calling for an immediate end to the ongoing violence in the West African country.
The 15-member council said in a statement that those responsible for the recent fighting in northern Mali should be "identified and held accountable."
The festivities erupted first during a visit to Kidal on Saturday by Prime Minister Moussa Mara, whose government is backed by French soldiers, who invaded the former colony in January last year under the pretext of halting the advance of the Tuareg fighters.