Troops take Timbuktu airport, roads

Ground forces backed by French paratroopers and helicopters have won control of the airport and roads leading to the fabled desert town of Timbuktu in northern Mali.

French forces are on the verge of taking control of the historic city as they press their offensive against Islamist rebels, France's foreign minister Laurent Fabius said.

The move marked the latest inroad by the two-week-old French mission to oust radical Islamists from the northern half of Mali, which they seized more than nine months ago.

French and Malian troops have taken control of the city's airport, about 7 kilometers from the town centre, Mali's army spokesman, Colonel Diarran Kone, said today.

Fighting alongside Malian and African forces, the French captured another northern town, Gao, 590 miles north of Bamako over the weekend.

Taking Timbuktu would make Kidal the last of three large northern cities the rebels control.

"Things are going as expected," Mr Fabius said of the French intervention.

"What's important is that Mali, little by little, is liberated,” he said.

France intervened in Mali on January 11th after Islamist fighters overran the town of Konna, sparking concern they might advance to Bamako.

European and US leaders have warned that northern Mali is turning into a haven for Islamist militants intent on attacking western targets.

Timbuktu is known for three ancient mosques and 16 mausoleums dating as far back as the 15th century and is a designated UNESCO site.

Islamist rebels said in July that they were destroying historic mausoleums and mosques in the city of because they're "idolatrous."

Several insurgent groups, including Touareg separatists and al-Qaeda-linked Islamists, seized northern Mali last year, after a March coup in the capital.

The French defence ministry has said 3,700 French soldiers are involved in the operation to win back the area, including 2,500 on Mali soil.

West African nations decided to almost double their Mali mission to 5,700 troops,

Mali ranks 175th out of 187 nations on the UN Human Development Index, which measures indicators including literacy, income and gender equality.