BAMAKO, Mali // French air strikes in Mali drove back Islamist rebels from a key city and destroyed a militant command centre, the French defence minister said yesterday, as West African nations authorised the immediate deployment of troops to the country.
More than 100 people, including rebels and government soldiers were killed, Malian military sources and witnesses said.
An army officer at the headquarters of Mali's former military junta in Bamako said "over 100" rebels had been killed, while a shopkeeper in Konna said he had counted 148 bodies, among them several dozen government soldiers.
The militants, who have carved out their own territory in the lawless desert region of northern Mali over the past nine months, recently pressed closer to a major base of the Malian army, dramatically raising the stakes in the battle for the vast West African nation.
"The threat is a terrorist state at the doorstep of France and Europe," said the French defence minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian.
The French operation, which started Friday in the former French colony, came after an appeal for help from Mali's president.
The fighting involved hundreds of French troops and overnight air strikes on three rebel targets, said Mr Le Drian.
He said a rebel command centre outside the key city of Konna was destroyed.
Admiral Edouard Guillaud said that a French helicopter had been downed and that the pilot died of his wounds while he was being taken to safety.
A military official in Mali said Islamist militants were driven out of Konna, but that the city captured by the extremists earlier this week was not yet under government control.
Sanda Abou Mohamed, spokesman for Islamist group Ansar Dine, said he could not confirm if his fighters were still in Konna.
The Economic Community Of West African States (Ecowas), commission president, Kadre Desire Ouedraogo, yesterday said that the bloc had authorised the immediate deployment of troops to Mali.
He said they made the decision "in light of the urgency of the situation".
Ecowas did not say how many troops would be sent to Mali or when they would arrive.
It also did not specify which countries from the 15-nation bloc would be providing the forces.
Ecowas had been talking for months about a military operation to oust the Islamists from northern Mali.
While the UN approved a plan for deployment, it had not been expected until September.
Al Qaeda's affiliate in Africa has been a shadowy presence for years in the forests and deserts of Mali, a country hobbled by poverty and a relentless cycle of hunger.
Most Malians adhere to a moderate form of Islam.
In recent months, however, the terrorist group and its allies have taken advantage of political instability, taking territory they are using to stock weapons and train forces.
Fighters control major towns in the north, carrying out amputations in public squares just as the Taliban did. And as in Afghanistan, they are flogging women for not covering up.
Since taking control of Timbuktu, they have destroyed seven of the 16 mausoleums listed as world heritage sites.
The French president, Francois Hollande, said the "terrorist groups, drug traffickers and extremists" in northern Mali "show a brutality that threatens us all".
He vowed that the operation would last "as long as necessary".
France said it was taking the action in Mali at the request of the president Dioncounda Traore, who declared a state of emergency because of the militants' advance.
Mr Hollande said that the operation is aimed in part at protecting the 6,000 French citizens in Mali, where seven of them already are being held captive.
* Associated Press
