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“Fighting continued on Sunday morning some 60 kilometres north of Gao between Islamists and Malian troops supported by the French army.
“We have the situation under control,” said a Malian military source contacted by phone from the capital Bamako.
“At least 50 MUJAO Islamists have been killed since the day before yesterday (Friday),” he added, referring to rebels from the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa.
Gao, the largest city in northern Mali, was under the control of MUJAO before it was driven from there by the French-backed international offensive that was launched on January 11.
A Malian soldier who had taken part in the fighting on Friday evening near Gao had said on Saturday that the Malian army had destroyed a MUJAO base.
He said the group suffered heavy losses during the fighting which took place in In-Manas, 60 kilometres east of Gao.
Meanwhile, France said yesterday that one of its soldiers had been killed in fighting in northern Mali, in the third death of a French serviceman since the launch of its military intervention in mid-January.
The presidency said in a statement that the soldier was killed in combat on Saturday evening.
The defence ministry identified the soldier as Corporal Cedric Charenton (26), who had been deployed in Mali since January 25 and had previously served in Afghanistan and Gabon.
Military spokesman Colonel Thierry Burkhard said the soldier had been killed while attacking a rebel position following “several engagements with terrorist elements.”
“The actions aimed to search (mountain) recesses and tunnels that can be used as shelters,” he said, adding that French soldiers seized significant ammunition caches and arms including heavy weapons. — AFP.
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