Mali troops battle Islamists in Gao; courthouse ablaze

Fighting had first erupted overnight in Gao, where a military official and witnesses reported heavy gunfire around two main entrances to the main city in the north of the country.

“Our forces are currently confronting the jihadists near the Gao townhouse. They have infiltrated the city and we are currently retaliating,” Amadou Diarra, a Malian army captain, told AFP in Bamako.

Troops from Niger were the first to respond to the Islamist presence in Gao overnight but by midday Thursday it was the Malian army battling what one military source said was a group of around 40 insurgents.

The source said at least three rebels had already been killed in the fighting, which involved heavy artillery fire and left the streets of Gao largely deserted.

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