French soldiers fighting 'melee' with Islamists in Mali

French soldiers fight "melee" and "street by street" against Islamists in Diabali City, according to sources Malian and French. The Gauls military would have the support of the Malian army. A few hours earlier, the French defense minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, had announced that ground forces are in Mali "are moving north" of the African country. "Until now, we had been assured that ground forces in Bamako, first ensuring our people, our citizens, Europeans and the city of Bamako. Now, French ground forces are rising to the north," he told the station RTL. In the first 'stop' of Gallic troops, Diabali, the fight is still intense. Diabali is 350 kilometers north of the Malian capital, Bamako. Diabali was captured by the jihadists on Monday. Exactly, took possession of the men of Algerian Abou Zeid, one of the leaders of Al Qaeda in the Maghreb. France, which still carries the weight of the operation against the rebels Salafists from mid-2012 to control the north of Mali, essentially attacks from the air , but the first shielded from the French base in Abidjan, began arriving yesterday to Bamako to move to the second part of the offensive, which is feared casualties begin to occur galas rows. Currently, France has deployed in the African country a total of 800 soldiers, which will increase to 2,500 shortly.