MALI | Bombing in Kidal French aviation destroys mansion Salafi leader in Mali

The French air force has bombed the town of Kinal, northwest of Mali, destroying the house of chief of the armed group 'Ansar Dine' (Defenders of Islam). "There were air strikes in the region of Kidal. Bombing has particularly affected the house of Iyad Ag Ghaly in Kidal and a military camp in the same city, "a Malian security source, whose account was confirmed by the inhabitants of region. This Saturday, the allied forces of Mali and France managed to gain control of the airport in Gao , one of the northern cities of the country in the hands of the Salafis. Along with Kidal and Timbuktu, Gao is one of three cities that fell in June last year in the hands of Salafi groups: Ansar al Din , Monotheism and Jihad in West Africa (MYAO) and Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) . On 11 January, Malian troops, supported by the French Army, launched 'Operation Serval' to, at first, rejecting a progression of Islamists south of the country under government control, and in a second stage to move north to liberate occupied towns fundamentalists. The Chief of Staff of the Army of Mali, General Ibrahima Dembele Dahiru, said last week that the North may be released in a month if the West-African forces were deployed as planned.