Malian insurgents blow up bridge

SEVARE, Mali - Islamic extremists based in the Malian town of Ansongo have destroyed a bridge near the Niger border, officials said on Friday, marking the first use of explosives by the insurgents since the start of a Frenchled military intervention two weeks ago.

The explosion shows that the extremists remain a nimble and daunting enemy despite gains by the French, who have recaptured three towns from the insurgents and on Friday pushed toward the Islamist stronghold of Gao, one of three provincial capitals controlled by the al-Qaida-linked rebels.

Djibril Diallo, the village chief of Fafa, located 12 miles from the bridge, said by telephone on Friday that residents of his town had called him to confirm that members of the Movement for the Oneness and Jihad in West Africa had traveled toward the border with Niger to the outskirts of Tassiga on Thursday, before destroying the bridge crossing into the town. The rebel group, also known as MUJAO, traveled from Ansongo, about 25 miles from Tassiga.

“That’s exactly right. They exploded it. It was last night at around 9 p.m. The Islamists left their barracks in Ansongo after the airstrikes and headed toward Niger. They caused the collapse of the bridge near the town of Tassiga, not far fromNiger,” said Diallo.

Julie Damond, a spokesman with aid group Doctors Without Borders, which has a team in Ansongo, said no injuries were directly related to the explosion. However, several people were being treated in the Ansongo hospital after a bus they were riding in fell into a hole in the bridge caused by the blast, she said by telephone from Bamako, the Malian capital.

The attack recalls insurgent tactics used in Iraq and Afghanistan. It appeared aimed at stopping the advance of African troops, stationed in neighboring Niger, who are expected to travel by road into Mali past Tassiga in order to retake the strategic town of Gao. However, the bridge is not the only way to cross the body of water, said Ibrahim Ag Idbaltanate, a former deputy in Mali’s parliament from the district where Tassiga is located.

However, the bombing of the bridge in Tassiga should cause concern about the strategic bridge leading into the city of Gao itself, said several officials.

An elected official from northern Mali, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that fighters belonging to MUJAO were seen on the bridge leading to Gao overnight, and there were reports that they planned to bomb it.

“Their intention was to dynamite it. But finally they decided not to. I don’t know why they abandoned their plan to do so,” the official said.

Despite these setbacks, Mali’s military and French forces pushed toward Gao on Friday, in their farthest move north and east since launching an operation two weeks ago to retake land controlled by the rebels, said residents and a security official on Friday.The soldiers were seen in the town of Hombori, according to residents.

“They were in eight all-terrain vehicles and two armored vehicles,” said Maouloud Daou, a resident of Hombori. “They asked us if there were Islamists in the town and we told themthey had left. People were very happy to see the Malian and French military.”

Hombori is 93 miles beyond the current line of control in Douentza, which returned to the hands of government forces earlier in the week. The northeastward push puts them just 155 miles away from Gao, one of the three main northerncities held by Islamists since last April when the rebels took advantage of the chaotic aftermath of a coup in the capital to seize Mali’s northern half.

Information for this article was contributed by Krista Larson, Jamey Keaten, Raphael Satter and Don Melvin of The Associated Press.

Front Section, Pages 3 on 01/26/2013

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