Over 100 dead in French strikes and fighting in Mali

More than 100 people including rebels and government soldiers were killed in Mali during French air strikes and fighting over the strategic town of Konna

Sat Jan 12, 2013 8:23pm GMT

An army officer at the headquarters of Mali's former military junta in Bamako said nearly 30 vehicles carrying Islamist fighters had been bombed and "over 100" rebels had been killed in fighting.

A shopkeeper in Konna said he had counted 148 bodies in four different locations in the town. Among the dead were several dozen uniformed government soldiers. Others wore traditional robes and turbans.

uk.reuters.com...


'Many deaths' as Malians, joined by French, try to beat back Islamist militants
CNN January 13, 2013 -- Updated 0510 GMT (1310 HKT)

Bamako, Mali (CNN) -- An effort to halt advancing militant Islamist forces has resulted in "many deaths" in northern Mali, a military spokesman said -- with the fatalities including Malian soldiers, insurgents and a French pilot killed in a helicopter raid.

edition.cnn.com...


France risks prolonged campaign in chaotic Mali: experts

“It is getting nasty and there will be a chaotic few weeks ahead,” said a senior UN Security Council envoy after Paris officially informed the 15-member body of its decision to act in the African nation.

“France may now need to take an even stronger hand in the effort against the Islamists and press the rest of Europe and the United States to get more involved,” said the western envoy. Britain has already announced that it will help transport foreign troops to Mali. The United States, meanwhile, provides military training to the country.

“It may only be a limited intervention now, but there is a high chance that France will have to increase its presence further, especially if it is not possible to get a serious regional stabilization in place much faster than was planned,” said Richard Gowan of New York University’s Center on International Cooperation.

“It’s likely that France and possibly the United States will escalate special forces raids and drone strikes in the north to weaken the Islamists while some sort of long-term intervention force gets together,” Gowan added.

www.theglobeandmail.com...


Hollande says to carry out Mali operation despite Islamists threats

"In the coming days, our country will continue its intervention in Mali. I said it will remain the necessary time but I have confidence in the effectiveness of our forces and the mission's success that we accomplish on behalf of the international community," he added.

news.xinhuanet.com...


France orders tighter security in wake of Mali operation

President François Hollande on Saturday ordered security to be tightened in France, including increased protections at public buildings and on transportation networks, following the launch of French military operations in Mali to combat Islamist rebels.

www.france24.com...




French troops head to Mali to drive back Islamic extremists

Many believe that if Mopti were to fall, the Islamists could seize the rest of the country, dramatically raising the stakes. The potential outcome was “a terrorist state at the doorstep of France and Europe,” French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Saturday.

seattletimes.com...

UN Approves Intervention in Mali

by TheRealNews•2 weeks ago




Strategies to rid Mali of extremists

by CNNInternational•2 months ago




Al-Qaeda's New Homeland - Mali

by journeymanpictures•4 months ago

Wow looks like things are really heating up over there now.
Here we go again, onward christian soldiers...

'Mali intervention may lead to nightmare'

Published on Jan 12, 2013

Interesting read. Resources or terrorist? What is the real reason why everyone is interested in Mali?

As UN prepares to finalize its approval of an ECOWAS force 3,300 men strong into Mali, the real facts surrounding global interest, positions and actions on Mali come into perspective. Mali is Africa’s third largest producer of gold, after South Africa and Ghana. In addition to other minerals, Mali has great deposits of Uranium. Previously known as one of the most stable nations in Africa, with so much resource, yet, “surprisingly”, one of the poorest nations in the world. Read more: newsrescue.com...

newsrescue.com...

Originally posted by jam321
Interesting read. Resources or terrorist? What is the real reason why everyone is interested in Mali?

As UN prepares to finalize its approval of an ECOWAS force 3,300 men strong into Mali, the real facts surrounding global interest, positions and actions on Mali come into perspective. Mali is Africa’s third largest producer of gold, after South Africa and Ghana. In addition to other minerals, Mali has great deposits of Uranium. Previously known as one of the most stable nations in Africa, with so much resource, yet, “surprisingly”, one of the poorest nations in the world. Read more: newsrescue.com...

newsrescue.com...

That's Interesting ..

en.wikipedia.org...

In 1991, following the lead of the International Development Association, Mali relaxed the enforcement of mining codes which led to greater foreign investment in the mining industry.[4] From 1994 to 2007, national and foreign companies were granted around 150 operating licences along with more than 25 certificates for exploitation and more than 200 research permits. Gold mining in Mali has increased dramatically, with more than 50 tonnes in 2007 from less than half a tonne produced annually at the end of the 1980s. Mining revenue totaled some 300 billion CFA francs in 2007 more than a thirty times increase from the 1995 total national mining revenue of less than 10 billion CFA. Government revenues from mining contracts, less than 1% of the state income in 1989 were almost 18% in 2007.

Gold accounted for some 80% of mining activity in the mid 2000s, while there remain considerable proven reserves of other minerals not currently exploited. Gold has become Mali's third-largest export, after cotton—historically the basis of Mali's export industry—and livestock. The emergence of gold as Mali's leading export product since 1999 has helped mitigate some of the negative impacts caused by fluctuations in world cotton markets and loss of trade from the Ivorian Civil War to the south.[6] Large private investments in gold mining include Anglogold-Ashanti ($250 million) in Sadiola and Yatela, and Randgold Resources ($140 million) in Morila - both multinational South African companies located respectively in the north-western and southern parts of the country.

Although most of Mali is desert or semi-desert, the Niger River is a potential irrigation source. Exports are in three primary sector products (56% gold, 27% cotton, 5% livestock). Cote d’Ivore is where most of the country’s trade goes through and the crisis previously experienced here had a negative effect on Mali’s economy.

The mining industry in Mali has recently attracted renewed interest and investment from foreign companies. Gold and phosphate are the only minerals mined in Mali although deposits of copper and diamonds do also exist.

well there really is a simple solution....

None of that would be needed if they would just ban the guns there so the terrorist couldnt use them to kill people....

Just saying

France renews air strikes on Islamist targets in Mali
13 January 2013 Last updated at 14:04 GMT

"There were [air strikes] last night, there are now and there will be today and tomorrow," Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in Paris on Sunday.

Troops from neighbouring African states - Niger, Burkina Faso, Nigeria and Togo - are expected to arrive in Mali within days to support the government.

Since the start of the French intervention on Friday, at least 11 Malian soldiers and a French helicopter pilot have been killed.

Human Rights watch believes 10 civilians, including three children, died in Konna as Malian forces fought to recapture the town.

A Malian army officer said on Saturday he believed more than 100 militants had been killed.

www.bbc.co.uk...


Analysis: Mali - one African war France could not avoid

(Reuters) - Just as its leaders were defining a new "hands-off" strategy for Africa, France has been thrust onto the front line of one of the continent's riskiest battlefields deep in the desert of Mali.

www.reuters.com...

The French will have their hands full here.The Malian army is poorly trained and equipped.That needs to be fixed.And as it seems Mali is mineral rich with a joke army I smell corruption.This will be bad for Europe as Mali is to close for comfort.I hope other countries help the French.

They have to take out those islamist terrorist, all there is to it.....

France is doing the right thing, can't let them take away other peoples land...

America and UK will be helping, the terrorist are going to be cooked like dinner.

France determined to 'eradicate' terrorism in Mali, official says
January 13, 2013 -- Updated 1555 GMT

(CNN) -- As a new round of French military raids targeted Islamist rebels in Mali on Sunday, both sides of the battle said they were determined to win.

French fighter jets bombed targets in central Mali Saturday and were continuing strikes aimed at rebel strongholds on Sunday, Malian Defense Ministry spokesman Lt. Col. Diarran Kone said.

Sunday's raids were the latest in a French operation to help the Malian government stop advances by militant Islamist forces.

France has sent several hundred troops to join the fight and plans more raids on Monday, French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told Radio Europe 1. "We have to eradicate this terrorism," he said Sunday.


Islamist rebels in Mali acknowledged Sunday that they had suffered heavy losses in a battle against the country's military and French troops.

"This is a holy war. The deaths are normal," said Sanda Ould Boumama, spokesman for the rebel group Ansar Dine, which is linked to al Qaeda.

"Our fighters are prepared to die for our cause," he told CNN by phone.

"The war has only started," said Boumama. "We expect more casualties."

"Now the world can see that it's the French who are the real terrorists," he said.

edition.cnn.com...

France says Diabaly falls to Malian insurgents
Jan. 14 8:05 AM EST

Jean-Yves Le Drian said Monday the rebels "took Diabaly after fierce fighting and resistance from the Malian army that couldn't hold them back."

bigstory.ap.org...


Mali Islamists counter attack, promise France long war

(Reuters) - Al Qaeda-linked Islamist rebels launched a counter-offensive on Monday in central Mali after four days of air strikes by French warplanes on their strongholds in the desert north, promising to drag France into a long and brutal Afghanistan-style ground war.

"They have taken Diabaly ... after fierce fighting and resistance from the Malian army," French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told BFM television, adding that French and Malian forces were fighting to dislodge the rebels.

Residents said Islamists, shouting 'Allahu akbar', were battling the army inside the town.

www.reuters.com...

It needs to be done like the UK did The Falklands War. all in or nothing Then it will be done. Why fight if your gonna loose? Fight to win.

France to send more troops to join Mali offensive
January 15, 2013 -- Updated 1629 GMT

France now has about 750 troops on Malian soil, the French Defense Ministry said Tuesday, as its forces seek to bolster the Malian military's efforts to wrest control from Islamist militants.

President Francois Hollande, speaking on a visit to the United Arab Emirates, said the number of French troops deployed would increase "so that France can make way as quickly as possible" for an African force.

Nearly 1,700 additional French troops will take part in the Mali offensive from French military bases across the region, the Defense Ministry said.

Col. Mohammed Yerima, a spokesman for the Nigerian army, told CNN that 190 of its soldiers would arrive in Mali within 24 hours.

In total, Nigeria will deploy 900 soldiers -- slightly more than a full battalion -- within the next 10 days, as part of a U.N.-mandated African force to fight the insurgents in Mali, he said.

Niger, Burkina Faso, Togo, Senegal and Benin are also among the countries that have pledged to send troops, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told reporters Monday.

edition.cnn.com...

Algerian hostage-takers call for end to Mali intervention

Algerian forces say they have surrounded a gas facility in southeast Algeria where Islamist militants are holding over 150 hostages, including 41 foreign nationals. The hostage-takers have demanded France end its military intervention in Mali.

FRANCE 24 has spoken to a French national who says he is one of the 150 hostages at the gas facility in southeast Algeria. The hostage said that they have been forced to wear explosive belts and that this militants are "heavily armed".

www.france24.com... reseaux_sociaux&ns_fee=0&ns_linkname=20130117_algeria_hostage_crisis_end_mali_war

www.france24.com... reseaux_sociaux&ns_fee=0&ns_linkname=20130117_french_hostage_algeria_gas_plant_testimony

The captives include British, Japanese, US, French and Norwegian nationals.

reply to post by MariaLida


ALGERIA: 34 hostages, 15 kidnappers killed by Army air strikes (Agency AM)

live.reuters.com...

rt.com...

www.france24.com...

www.reuters.com...

To add on the current situation in Mali, Agence France Presse reports that Northern Mali locals from Gao killed an Islamist chief in revenge attack after the death of a local journalist. Maybe we could speculate because of the french intervention, locals are starting to be fearless about these Islamists guys?

Sorry there's no link to this story as it is a recent piece of news. Will post one ASAP.

Take care

Originally posted by kanbanozaurus
To add on the current situation in Mali, Agence France Presse reports that Northern Mali locals from Gao killed an Islamist chief in revenge attack after the death of a local journalist. Maybe we could speculate because of the french intervention, locals are starting to be fearless about these Islamists guys?

Sorry there's no link to this story as it is a recent piece of news. Will post one ASAP.

Take care

Here are two links about this story:

mobile.news.com.au...
edition.cnn.com...

Take care

reply to post by MariaLida


Algeria hostage crisis: the full story of the kidnapping in the desert

Friday 25 January 2013 14.26 GMT

The Algerian prime minister would later announce at least 38 civilians had been killed during the course of the four-day siege, and 29 militants. Nearly 700 Algerians and 100 other foreigners survived. Five people were missing. With seven of the foreign dead unidentified, forensic teams from the UK, US and Norway arrived to help identify remains over the course of this week.

At least 38 civilians had been killed during the course of the four-day siege and 29 militants. Nearly 700 Algerians and 100 other foreigners survived Japan emerged with the biggest death toll of any country. With 10 dead, it was the biggest loss of Japanese lives overseas since the 9/11, in which 24 were killed. One of the Japanese victims, Rokuro Fuchida, 64, had written on Facebook that he was looking forward to his assignment in Algeria. “I work around the world to see the glittering night-time skies of foreign lands,” he said. “I look forward to seeing the starry sky above the desert.”

www.guardian.co.uk...


Mali: Timbuktu mayor says Islamist extremists torched library containing ancient manuscripts

January 28, 12:34 PM

SEVARE, Mali — Mali: Timbuktu mayor says Islamist extremists torched library containing ancient manuscripts .

Source ; bigstory.ap.org...


War in Mali: French-led troops are now in control of the Timbuktu airport