Kidal

Suspected Islamist terrorist attacked a UN peacekeepers' base in the northern Mali town of Kidal today, killing several people and wounding others, a spokesman for the separatist Coordination of Azawad Movements (CMA) told Reuters.

Mali's Tuareg-led rebels met today in the northeast of the country to decide whether to sign a peace deal already accepted by the government and smaller armed groups, a participant told AFP.

Malian Defence Minister Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga has said around 50 soldiers had been killed during recent fighting with armed rebels in the northern desert town of Kidal.

Malian soldiers retreated from the northern town of Kidal on Wednesday after heavy gunbattles with ethnic Tuareg separatists, a major setback for the army less than a year after its highly unpopular return to the rebel stronghold.

Mali has sent 1,500 troops to retake the rebel stronghold of Kidal, military sources said on Monday, after Tuareg separatists laid siege to local government offices, sparking a gun battle in which dozens of people were killed.

Mali's Prime Minister Moussa Mara warned Sunday the country was "at war" with terrorists in the northern city of Kidal, after clashes between separatist militants and the army left dozens dead.

Mali officials say separatist rebels killed eight soldiers, stormed a government building and took 30 people hostage in an assault on the northern city of Kidal.

Five members of the UN mission in Mali were injured on Monday when their vehicle ran over a landmine planted in the northeastern rebel bastion of Kidal, the stabilisation mission said.

Al Qaeda's branch in North Africa claimed responsibility Wednesday for the slaying of two French radio journalists, who were kidnapped and killed over the weekend in the northern Malian town of Kidal, according to a statement posted on a portal frequently used by jihadists.

Two journalists with Radio France Internationale (RFI) were kidnapped on Saturday by armed men while working in Kidal in Mali's far northeast, military and security sources said.

A suicide bomber was killed instantly when he accidentally detonated his explosives belt in the Malian rebel bastion of Kidal on Sunday, without killing or wounding anyone else, a local government official told AFP.

Five people, including two suicide bombers, died on Friday in car bombings in northern Mali, a day after fierce urban battles between French-led forces and Islamists left up to 20 extremists dead, officials said.

France called for peace talks between Mali's government and "legitimate representatives" from the north, after French troops took up positions at Kidal, the last city held by Islamist forces.

French troops on Wednesday entered Kidal, the last Islamist bastion in Mali's north to be recaptured in a whirlwind Paris-led offensive amid reports the radicals have regrouped in remote hills near Algeria.

French forces have taken control of the airport in Kidal, seizing a key position in one of three provincial capitals the Islamist militants took over last year, officials said on Wednesday. One Malian official said French troops even moved into the city, which was the last remaining urban stronghold of the Islamists in Mali.

Suspected Islamist terrorist attacked a UN peacekeepers' base in the northern Mali town of Kidal today, killing several people and wounding others, a spokesman for the separatist Coordination of Azawad Movements (CMA) told Reuters.

Mali's Tuareg-led rebels met today in the northeast of the country to decide whether to sign a peace deal already accepted by the government and smaller armed groups, a participant told AFP.

Malian Defence Minister Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga has said around 50 soldiers had been killed during recent fighting with armed rebels in the northern desert town of Kidal.

Malian soldiers retreated from the northern town of Kidal on Wednesday after heavy gunbattles with ethnic Tuareg separatists, a major setback for the army less than a year after its highly unpopular return to the rebel stronghold.

Mali has sent 1,500 troops to retake the rebel stronghold of Kidal, military sources said on Monday, after Tuareg separatists laid siege to local government offices, sparking a gun battle in which dozens of people were killed.

Mali's Prime Minister Moussa Mara warned Sunday the country was "at war" with terrorists in the northern city of Kidal, after clashes between separatist militants and the army left dozens dead.

Mali officials say separatist rebels killed eight soldiers, stormed a government building and took 30 people hostage in an assault on the northern city of Kidal.

Five members of the UN mission in Mali were injured on Monday when their vehicle ran over a landmine planted in the northeastern rebel bastion of Kidal, the stabilisation mission said.

Al Qaeda's branch in North Africa claimed responsibility Wednesday for the slaying of two French radio journalists, who were kidnapped and killed over the weekend in the northern Malian town of Kidal, according to a statement posted on a portal frequently used by jihadists.

Two journalists with Radio France Internationale (RFI) were kidnapped on Saturday by armed men while working in Kidal in Mali's far northeast, military and security sources said.

A suicide bomber was killed instantly when he accidentally detonated his explosives belt in the Malian rebel bastion of Kidal on Sunday, without killing or wounding anyone else, a local government official told AFP.

Five people, including two suicide bombers, died on Friday in car bombings in northern Mali, a day after fierce urban battles between French-led forces and Islamists left up to 20 extremists dead, officials said.

France called for peace talks between Mali's government and "legitimate representatives" from the north, after French troops took up positions at Kidal, the last city held by Islamist forces.

French troops on Wednesday entered Kidal, the last Islamist bastion in Mali's north to be recaptured in a whirlwind Paris-led offensive amid reports the radicals have regrouped in remote hills near Algeria.

French forces have taken control of the airport in Kidal, seizing a key position in one of three provincial capitals the Islamist militants took over last year, officials said on Wednesday. One Malian official said French troops even moved into the city, which was the last remaining urban stronghold of the Islamists in Mali.