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French planes strike Mali rebel stronghold of Gao

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13-01-2013 | 09:39

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French planes strike Mali rebel stronghold of Gao

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French fighter jets and attack helicopters bombed rebel positions in the Malian town of Gao on Sunday, residents said, as France pushed its military campaign towards northern Islamist strongholds.

"Two helicopters are bombarding the positions of the Islamists, who are trying to fight back," said resident Soumaila Maiga. "The planes are so fast you only hear their sound in the sky."

A spokesman for Ansar Dine, one of the main Islamist factions, said French aircraft had also attacked its positions in the smaller towns of Lere and Douentza, further south.

The West African regional bloc ECOWAS has called an extraordinary summit for Saturday in Ivory Coast to discuss the military campaign against Islamist rebels in Mali, a Ivorian minister said on Sunday.

"The heads of state will come together to consult and to evaluate the situation," said Ali Coulibaly, African Integration Minister for Ivory Coast, which holds the rotating chairmanship of the 15-nation bloc.

Coulibaly said an emergency contingent of ECOWAS troops, scrambled at short notice after France intervened with airstrikes in Mali on Friday, would start arriving in Bamako on Sunday.

REUTERS

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