MALI: French and Malian forces secure Diabaly

Record ID: 858714

  • Title: MALI: French and Malian forces secure Diabaly
  • Date: 21st January 2013
  • Summary: DIABALY, MALI (JANUAR 21, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF FRENCH SOLDIERS AROUND DESTROYED PICKUP TRUCKS LOCALS WATCHING VARIOUS OF CARCASSES OF BURNT PICKUP TRUCKS AND FRENCH SOLDIERS AROUND PICKUP TRUCKS (SOUNDBITE) (Bambara) BAYINI KOUROUMA, DIABALY RESIDENT, SAYING: "Early morning on Monday we were on the side of the road when we heard shooting not far from the village. When the shooting started to get close to the village we fled and asked women and children to go back inside. We were very surprised to see them in the village, they had cut the leaves off trees to camouflage their vehicles, and there was a group on foot and just like that they started to shoot in all directions, I didn't even have the time to go back to my place, I dropped to the ground where I was." BURNT CAR BURNT CAR'S LICENSE PLATE ELSEWHERE IN TOWN, VARIOUS OF PEOPLE LOOKING AT DECOMPOSING BODY OF REBEL LOCAL COVERING HIS NOSE WITH CLOTH TO PROTECT FROM THE SMELL OF DECOMPOSING BODY VARIOUS OF FRENCH SOLDIERS SECURING THE AREA AS DIABALY VILLAGERS WATCH
  • Embargoed: 5th February 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Mali
  • City:
  • Country: Mali
  • Topics: Conflict
  • Reuters ID: LVADW2RX9V7X1PA5GGVNNALDKL2R
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: French and Malian armoured personnel carriers and supply trucks moved into the central Mali town of Diabaly early Monday (January 21), regaining the ground from Islamist rebels.
    The Islamists had been forced to flee after French airstrikes bombarded the town, leaving behind burnt cars and decomposing bodies.
    France said the advance was a success in its campaign to oust Islamist fighters from Mali's vast desert, where they have held sway for 10 months.
    Diabaly, 350 km (220 miles) north of Mali's capital Bamako, had harboured the main cluster of insurgents south of the frontline towns of Mopti and Sevare.
    Diabaly residents said the rebels arrived in a convoy of about 43 pickup vehicles and numbered over 200.
    The attack took them by surprise, Diabaly resident Bayini Kouroumi recalled.
    "Early morning on Monday we were on the side of the road when we heard shooting not far from the village. When the shooting started to get close to the village we fled and asked women and children to go back inside. We were very surprised to see them in the village, they had cut the leaves off trees to camouflage their vehicles, and there was a group on foot and just like that they started to shoot in all directions, I didn't even have the time to go back to my place, I dropped to the ground where I was," Kouroumi said.
    In total, about eight rebel vehicles were destroyed across the town, residents said. In their flight, the rebels also abandoned weapons and ammunition.
    The region around Diabaly in central Mali has long been a hub for al Qaeda-linked cells believed to have camps in the Ouagadou forest near Mauritania's border.
    The French commander in the region has warned rebels may have left mines and booby traps in the recaptured towns.
    France has deployed 2,000 troops to Mali and its warplanes pounded rebel columns and bases for an 11th day on Monday. Its intervention turned back an Islamist column heading towards Bamako that threatened to topple Mali's government.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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