30 French warplanes blast Islamist targets in Mali
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A Malian soldier (centre, in helmet) patrols with French soldiers along the street outside the Ahmed Baba Institute, or Ahmed Baba Centre for Documentation and Research, in Timbuktu, Feb 2, 2013. Thirty French warplanes on Sunday blasted Islamic extremist training and logistics centres in north-east Mali, just hours after President Francois Hollande visited the country, the military said. --PHOTO: REUTERS
PARIS (AFP) - Thirty French warplanes on Sunday blasted Islamic extremist training and logistics centres in north-east Mali, just hours after President Francois Hollande visited the country, the military said.
Fighter jets, refuelling and reconnaissance planes took part in the "major" overnight operation in the Tessalit area north of Kidal, military spokesman Colonel Thierry Burkhard said.
Kidal is the last bastion of radicals who occupied the desert north for months before France's surprise intervention.
Tessalit, near the border with Algeria, is believed to be where seven French nationals captured by Islamists are being held.
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