MARKALA (Mali), Jan 16: French troops battled Islamist rebels in Mali on Wednesday as Al Qaeda-linked fighters claimed to have taken 41 foreigners hostage in a retaliatory attack in Algeria.

After days of air strikes on Islamist positions in the northern territory the rebels seized in April, French and Malian troops battled the insurgents in the small town of Diabaly, some 400km north of the capital Bamako.

Wednesday’s ground battle in Mali was taking place in Diabaly, a town seized two days earlier by fighters led by Algerian Abou Zeid, one of the leaders of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

“The special forces are currently in Diabaly, in close-quarter combat with the Islamists. The Malian army is also in place,” a Malian security source said on condition of anonymity.

The French military said it had secured a strategic bridge on the Niger river near the town of Markala, south of Diabaly, blocking a key route to Bamako.

French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said the western zone where Diabaly lies was home to “the toughest, most fanatical and best-organised groups. It’s under way there but it’s difficult”.

As offers of non-military support for the Mali assault continued to pour in – with Germany pledging two transport planes and Italy logistical support – Ivory Coast’s leader Alassane Ouattara urged all European partners to “mobilise”.

A first contingent of 190 Nigerian troops was due in Bamako as part of a regional force of over 3,000 soldiers from Benin, Ghana, Niger, Senegal, Burkina Faso and Togo.

France says its troops will triple from 800 at present to 2,500 men, and are pitted against some 1,300 Islamist fighters.—AFP