Islamists Gain Ground in Mali Despite French Airstrikes
Despite intensive aerial bombardments by French warplanes, Islamist insurgents grabbed more territory in Mali Monday and moved closer to the capital, French and Malian authorities said. In the latest setback, the al-Qaida-linked extremists overran the garrison village of Diabaly in central Mali, France's defence minister said in Paris...

The Islamist fighters control the north and had been blocked in Mali's narrow waist in the central part of the country. But by seizing Diabaly, they appear to have now succeeded in a flanking move getting around the 300-kilometre (200-mile) long belt, opening a second front in the broad southern section of the country, knifing in from the west on government forces...


The French military, which began battling in Mali on Friday, expanded its aerial bombing campaign of northern Mali, launching airstrikes for the first time in central Mali to combat the new threat. But it failed to halt the advance of the rebels, who now are only 400 kilometres (250 miles) from the capital Bamako, in the far south. Before France sent its forces in on Friday, the closest known spot the Islamists were to the capital was 680 kilometres (420 miles) away near the central belt, though they might have infiltrated closer than that.

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