Timbuktu: Islamists return to attack forces

Timbuktu has been hit by a prolonged battle between Islamic extremists and the Malian and French armies, sources in the country said yesterday.

Fighters linked to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, attacked the city in northern Mali late on Saturday night and continued fighting yesterday, said Captain Samba Coulibaly, a spokesman for the Malian military in Timbuktu.

For ten months until this January, Timbuktu as well as much of the rest of northern Mali was ruled by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, as well as two other 
jihadist groups allied with the terror network.

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This is the first major attack on the city of Timbuktu since it was liberated by French forces on 28 January. The attack started on Saturday at about 10pm local time when a jihadist suicide bomber blew himself up at a Malian military checkpoint.

“The jihadist was on foot and died on the spot, but his explosives lightly injured one of our soldiers,” said Capt Coulibaly.

“The jihadists are a few. They sneaked into the military camp and the city of Timbuktu. There is shooting at the moment, but we’ll get to the end,” said a Malian soldier at an entrance to the city.

The French military joined the Malian army to fight the Islamic radicals, residents in the city said.

Shooting could still be heard in the city yesterday. One resident, Age Djitteye, said that one of the jihadists tried to take cover inside his family’s compound: “He was young. He was wearing a robe, and had ammunition belts across his chest and a turban. He came inside our compound, and then the French came. He ran and they chased him.”

The fighters had taken over the back of the hotel complex, near the swimming pool, said Agaly Cisse, a hotel employee. The hotel had been hosting a large government delegation, including the governor of the region. The guests were evacuated to the French army base, Mr Cisse said.

He said French planes were circling overhead and French and Malian forces were fighting the jihadists.

In a separate incident, a Malian army vehicle drove over a landmine during a patrol on Saturday around 70 miles from the northern Malian town of Ansongo, killing two people on board.

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The attacks come as French president François Hollande said on French television on Saturday that the country’s forces had attained their objectives in Mali.

When the extremists began advancing southward in early 2013, Mr Hollande unilaterally authorised a military intervention which quickly pushed the Islamists from the main cities in the north. Outside the heavily fortified cities like Timbuktu, however, the jihadists are still present, leading an insurgency marked by suicide bombings, landmines and attacks on cities.