French troops have taken control of the airport in the northern Mali town of Kidal, Reuters reported Wednesday. The town is one of the last strongholds of the Islamist rebels. From Reuters:
Kidal would be the last of northern Mali’s major towns to be retaken by French forces, which retook Gao and Timbuktu earlier this week in a campaign to drive al Qaeda-linked Islamists from Mali’s north.
“They arrived late last night and they deployed in four planes and some helicopters,” Haminy Belco Maiga, president of the regional assembly of Kidal said, adding he had seen no early indications of resistance from rebel forces.
