Niger River - Rebels Torch Library Reuters - Malians Retake Timbuktu - French

By Adama Diarra

GAO, Mali Mon Jan 28, 2013 1:27pm EST

GAO, Mali (Reuters) - French along with Malian soldiers retook control connected with Timbuktu, some sort of UNESCO World Heritage site, on Monday soon after Islamist digital rebel occupiers fled the particular ancient Sahara buying and selling town and torched a number of buildings, which include a costly manuscript library.

The United States and European Union tend to be support a French-led involvement with Mali created for eliminating the particular threat involving revolutionary Islamist jihadists applying your West African state's inhospitable leave north for a springboard pertaining to global attacks.

The recuperation with Timbuktu accompanied the actual fast take simply by French and Malian allows along at the weekend of Gao, a different major town within Mali's north that will acquired been lived in by way of the alliance associated with Islamist militant groups since last year.

The two-week-old mandate by simply France within their former Sahel colony, in the request associated with Mali's government but also together with huge overseas support, includes driven this Islamist rebels northwards out of cities in the desert along with mountains.

Without a new taken being fired, 1,000 French militia and paratroopers and also 200 Malian troops seized Timbuktu airport and surrounded the town within the banks from the Niger River , wanting to block your vacation with al Qaeda-allied insurgents.

In both equally Timbuktu in addition to Gao, cheering places proved to be able to beautiful the actual French and Malian troops.

A next in a niche community throughout Mali's huge wilderness north, Kidal, have continued to be throughout Islamist militant hands. But the secular Malian Tuareg MNLA rebels claimed with Monday many people experienced considered demand in Kidal following Islamist practitioners forgotten it.

A Bamako-based diplomat established that MNLA takeover connected with Kidal, stating the Tuaregs were almost certainly going to attempt to press long-standing requirements with regard to autonomy for his or her north region.

A French military services spokesman stated this infiltration energies at Timbuktu were being being thorough to avoid combat in the urban center whilst to not ever injury cultural most beloved destinations and mosques and also strict shrines throughout that which is considered a harley seat regarding Islamic learning.

But Timbuktu Mayor Ousmane Halle documented of which departing Islamist gunmen possessed arranged ablaze a South African-funded selection with the actual location that contains hundreds of very helpful manuscripts.

"The rebels set hearth towards newly-constructed Ahmed Baba Institute created from the South Africans . This took place some nights ago," Ousmane informed Reuters by simply cell phone from Bamako. He stated this individual had gotten the knowledge from his main of marketing and sales communications whom possessed visited south through the town a day ago.