PARIS (AFP) - French-led troops in Mali today controlled access to Timbuktu after securing the airport of the fabled desert city as part of their push against Islamists, a military spokesman said in Paris.
The troops now controlled the territory between Timbuktu and Gao, the two bastions of the Islamist fighters who have been in control of Mali's vast desert north for nearly a year, said Thierry Burkhard.