SALON

Friday, Jan 25, 2013 5:22 PM UTC

Militants in Mali have destroyed a strategic bridge to Niger

Islamists destroy a bridge on the road to Gao, a Malian city occupied by extremists, amid French air strikes

By and

Topics: GlobalPost, Mali, niger, Africa, Bamako, al qaeda,

Militants in Mali have destroyed a strategic bridge to NigerFrench soldiers man an observation post outside Sevare, some 620 kms (400 miles) north of Mali's capital Bamako Thursday. (Credit: AP/Jerome Delay)
This article originally appeared on GlobalPost.

Global Post BAMAKO, Mali — Islamists have destroyed a strategic bridge leading to the Malian city of Gao, which is occupied by militants battling French forces attempting to stabilize the region.

GlobalPost Senior Correspondent Tristan McConnell, who is in Bamako, Mali’s capital, said the bridge attack comes amid a powerful display of military might by the French. McConnell said convoys of French troops in dozens of trucks, armored cars, 4x4s, armored personnel carriers and light tanks are heading north through the country.

“Local people waved, some brandishing homemade French flags, and cheered as the convoys snaked through towns,” he said.

French air strikes, which began on Jan. 11, have halted a southward advance by Islamist militants, forcing them to retreat from the towns of Diabaly, Konna and Douentza. Now French and Malian forces are pushing forward, seeking to retake territory lost to the coalition of jihadist groups over the last 10 months.

As the Islamists took out the bridge to Gao, aerial bombardments by French fighter jets targeted the city itself, one of the north’s three main population centers, preparing for ground troops who were seen in the town of Hombori, 100 miles from Gao, that evening, McConnell said.

France has declared its intention to stay in Mali as long as is needed to retake the north. African soldiers as part of a UN-mandated force are now also arriving in Mali to support France and the national army.

“But observers point out that while clearing Islamist fighters out of urban centers is one thing, rooting them out of the vast desert is another, much harder task,” McConnell said. “Military officials expect that once northern towns are occupied, the jihadists will resort to traditional guerilla tactics.”

The Associated Press reported that the bridge at Tassiga, a town 37 miles from the Niger border, was blown up with dynamite on Thursday by rebels hoping to prevent vehicular traffic to Gao.

The AP added the bridge was destroyed as soldiers from Niger and Chad prepared to enter Mali from the east.

“The Islamists dynamited the Tassiga bridge. No one can pass to Niger or come to Gao,” transport business owner Abdou Maiga told Agence France-Presse.

The Daily Star, a Lebanese paper, wrote that a longer land route leading from Niger to Gao, which doesn’t use the bridge, is still passable.

The French military campaign has been hit by allegations that Malian troops, with whom the French are partnered, have committed human rights violations in reprisal attacks against Islamists.

More GlobalPost

More Faine Greenwood.

More Tristan McConnell.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • This photo. President Barack Obama has a laugh during the unveiling of the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, Tx., Thursday. Former first lady Barbara Bush, who candidly admitted this week we've had enough Bushes in the White House, is unamused.
    Reuters/Jason Reed

  • Rescue workers converge Wednesday in Savar, Bangladesh, where the collapse of a garment building killed more than 300. Factory owners had ignored police orders to vacate the work site the day before.
    AP/A.M. Ahad

  • Police gather Wednesday at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to honor campus officer Sean Collier, who was allegedly killed in a shootout with the Boston Marathon bombing suspects last week.
    AP/Elise Amendola

  • Police tape closes the site of a car bomb that targeted the French embassy in Libya Tuesday. The explosion wounded two French guards and caused extensive damage to Tripoli's upscale al-Andalus neighborhood.
    AP/Abdul Majeed Forjani

  • Protestors rage outside the residence of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Sunday following the rape of a 5-year-old girl in New Delhi. The girl was allegedly kidnapped and tortured before being abandoned in a locked room for two days.
    AP/Manish Swarup

  • Clarksville, Mo., residents sit in a life boat Monday after a Mississippi River flooding, the 13th worst on record.
    AP/Jeff Roberson

  • Workers pause Wednesday for a memorial service at the site of the West, Tx., fertilizer plant explosion, which killed 14 people and left a crater more than 90 feet wide.
    AP/The San Antonio Express-News, Tom Reel

  • Aerial footage of the devastation following a 7.0 magnitude earthquake in China's Sichuan province last Saturday. At least 180 people were killed and as many as 11,000 injured in the quake.
    AP/Liu Yinghua

  • On Wednesday, Hazmat-suited federal authorities search a martial arts studio in Tupelo, Miss., once operated by Everett Dutschke, the newest lead in the increasingly twisty ricin case. Last week, President Barack Obama, Sen. Roger Wicker, R.-Miss., and a Mississippi judge were each sent letters laced with the deadly poison.
    AP/Rogelio V. Solis

  • The lighting of Freedom Hall at the George W. Bush Presidential Center Thursday is celebrated with (what else but) red, white and blue fireworks.
    AP/David J. Phillip

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 2 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

Salon is proud to feature content from GlobalPost, an awarding-winning international news site that focuses on original reporting from journalists stationed around the world. GlobalPost combines traditional journalistic values with the power of new media to offer a fresh perspective on global developments.

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
Facebook has been used to find ex-lovers, childhood BFFs or the one who got away. He used it to find the guy who, without his consent, made him his drug mule.
250 points251 points | 23 comments
vote
“This could be a career ender for Michele Bachmann”
157 points158 points | 68 comments
vote
Poll: 3 in 10 voters say “armed revolution might be necessary” - 29% say they believe they'll have to act "in order to protect our liberties" in the next few years
43 points44 points | 17 comments
vote
"New evidence reveals big banks still illegally foreclosing on thousands of homes – and weak settlement allows it."
27 points28 points | comment
vote
Are millennials delusional? New research suggests that members of "Generation Me" are warped by a profound sense of entitlement
26 points27 points | 16 comments

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: "The Shelter Cycle": Raised in a cult

Recommendations