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Thursday, Jan 17, 2013 8:00 AM UTC

W. Africans to join fight against Mali Islamists

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W. Africans to join fight against Mali IslamistsIn this picture released by the French Army Communication Audiovisual office (ECPAD) French soldiers check a map at an undisclosed location, north of the Malian capital, Bamako, Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013. French troops pressed northward in Mali toward territory occupied by radical Islamists on Wednesday, military officials said, announcing the start of a land assault that will put soldiers in direct combat "within hours." (AP Photo/Arnaud Roine, ECPAD) (Credit: AP)

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — An official with the West African regional bloc says troops from Nigeria are expected in Mali nearly a week after French forces began a military operation to oust radical Islamists from power.

Aboudou Toure Cheaka, special representative for the president of the ECOWAS commission, says troops from Niger also will be deployed Thursday along the border between Mali and Niger.

Forces from Burkina Faso and Togo are expected to be in place this weekend or early next week.

France has upwards of 800 troops in Mali, and expects to ramp up to a total of 2,500 that will include French Foreign Legionnaires.

It has committed helicopter gunships, fighter jets, surveillance planes and refueling tankers in the fight against the Islamists who seized control of northern Mali last year.

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