Russia sends aid to Mali, worried by militant Islam

Malian troops backed by French soldiers and attack helicopters killed 15 Islamists in Gao on Thursday in fighting to retake a mayor's office occupied by the militants, France's Defence Ministry said on Friday.    

In a related context, a car bomb explosion killed 5 people at least near the village of Tessalit in northern Mali.

Radical Islamic fighters spent weeks on the run from Malian cities under a French ground and air assault that began Jan. 11 after the rebels had pushed to southern territories. The French, meanwhile, are tightening a dragnet against the al-Qaida-linked militants in one of their last remaining redoubts, mountain sanctuaries near Algeria's border.         

France's government has said it still hopes to pull out of its Mali operation in the coming weeks  eager for African forces to help stabilize the impoverished West African country. But the French President said that France will "go all the way  that's to say, arresting the last terrorist chiefs in northern Mali."    

U.N. discussions about an African force for Mali have been under way for months, alongside efforts for a European Union training mission to help the Malian military.

On the other hand, Russia expressed concern about the spread of militant Islam and growing tension in Mali on Friday as it sent humanitarian aid to the West African country.
   
The dispatch of the aid signaled Moscow's growing unease about the situation in Africa since the Arab Spring popular revolts, which Russian officials have long warned may strengthen the hand of radical Islamists and fuel violence.
   
The Emergencies Ministry said a transport plane had left for Mali with 36 tonnes of food and household items, blankets and tents.
   
The Foreign Ministry warned about growing tensions in the region following talks on Thursday between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Romano Prodi, the United Nations envoy to the Sahel region of Africa.


AP/LBCI/REUTERS