Malian Military

A Russian national operating alongside Malian soldiers was killed by a roadside bomb in the centre of the conflict-torn Sahel state, an army document and officials said on Wednesday.

Unknown assailants attacked a UN peacekeeping base and a Malian army checkpoint on the outskirts of Mali's northern city of Timbuktu early on Friday, residents and military sources said.

Gunmen killed two police officers in an attack on the main bus station in the Malian capital Bamako on Wednesday, an intelligence officer said.

A deadly hostage drama at a Mali hotel in which 13 people died -- including five UN workers -- was claimed today by fighters linked to the notorious one-eyed Algerian jihadi leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar.

Five foreigners have been evacuated and a "number" of hostages freed after they were trapped by gunmen in a hotel standoff with soldiers in central Mali that left at least seven people dead, military sources said early Saturday.

Only the poor, old and sick have stuck around, holed up at home, trembling at the slightest noise, in the once-thriving Malian settlement of Bintagoungou, now little more than a ghost town.

Malians will go to the polls Sunday in their millions for a president expected to usher in a new era of peace and democracy in the first election since a military coup upended one of the region's most stable democracies.

French and Malian forces moving into far eastern Mali clashed with jihadist fighters in a spontaneous gunbattle on Wednesday, leaving a French soldier and about 10 insurgents dead, a French military spokesman said.

French and Malian troops fought running gun battles with Islamist rebel guerrillas in the north Mali town of Gao on Sunday, in clashes that showed up big gaps in security in a zone recently recaptured by a French-led military offensive.

A suicide bomber on a motorbike blew himself up at a Malian government military checkpoint 100 km (60 miles) north of the northern city of Gao on Friday, injuring one soldier, a Mali military officer said.

French airstrikes targeted the fuel depots and desert hideouts of Islamic extremists in northern Mali overnight on Monday, as a military spokeswoman said that French forces plan to hand control of Timbuktu to the Malian army this week.

Thirty French warplanes on Sunday blasted Islamic extremist training and centers and logistics centers in northeast Mali, just hours after President Francois Hollande visited the country, the military said.

Three suspected jihadists arrested in the days since the liberation of Timbuktu said Friday that Malian soldiers were torturing them with a method similar to waterboarding.

French and Malian forces fighting Islamist rebels took control on Saturday of the rebel bastion of Gao, the biggest military success so far in an offensive against al Qaeda-allied insurgents occupying the country's north.

A Russian national operating alongside Malian soldiers was killed by a roadside bomb in the centre of the conflict-torn Sahel state, an army document and officials said on Wednesday.

Unknown assailants attacked a UN peacekeeping base and a Malian army checkpoint on the outskirts of Mali's northern city of Timbuktu early on Friday, residents and military sources said.

Gunmen killed two police officers in an attack on the main bus station in the Malian capital Bamako on Wednesday, an intelligence officer said.

A deadly hostage drama at a Mali hotel in which 13 people died -- including five UN workers -- was claimed today by fighters linked to the notorious one-eyed Algerian jihadi leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar.

Five foreigners have been evacuated and a "number" of hostages freed after they were trapped by gunmen in a hotel standoff with soldiers in central Mali that left at least seven people dead, military sources said early Saturday.

Only the poor, old and sick have stuck around, holed up at home, trembling at the slightest noise, in the once-thriving Malian settlement of Bintagoungou, now little more than a ghost town.

Malians will go to the polls Sunday in their millions for a president expected to usher in a new era of peace and democracy in the first election since a military coup upended one of the region's most stable democracies.

French and Malian forces moving into far eastern Mali clashed with jihadist fighters in a spontaneous gunbattle on Wednesday, leaving a French soldier and about 10 insurgents dead, a French military spokesman said.

French and Malian troops fought running gun battles with Islamist rebel guerrillas in the north Mali town of Gao on Sunday, in clashes that showed up big gaps in security in a zone recently recaptured by a French-led military offensive.

A suicide bomber on a motorbike blew himself up at a Malian government military checkpoint 100 km (60 miles) north of the northern city of Gao on Friday, injuring one soldier, a Mali military officer said.

French airstrikes targeted the fuel depots and desert hideouts of Islamic extremists in northern Mali overnight on Monday, as a military spokeswoman said that French forces plan to hand control of Timbuktu to the Malian army this week.

Thirty French warplanes on Sunday blasted Islamic extremist training and centers and logistics centers in northeast Mali, just hours after President Francois Hollande visited the country, the military said.

Three suspected jihadists arrested in the days since the liberation of Timbuktu said Friday that Malian soldiers were torturing them with a method similar to waterboarding.

French and Malian forces fighting Islamist rebels took control on Saturday of the rebel bastion of Gao, the biggest military success so far in an offensive against al Qaeda-allied insurgents occupying the country's north.