Eurasia Press & News
Islamic extremists have taken the offensive around Gao in north Mali, wounding two civilians Tuesday when they blew up a bridge, a day after shelling the town and injuring a soldier.
“Early this Tuesday, Islamists dynamited one of two small bridges near … Bentia, about 50 kilometres (31 miles) from the border with Niger, leaving two civilians wounded,” said Ibrahim Cisse, a local councillor for the Gao region.
Cisse said that the assailants “wearing turbans” arrived by motorbike at the bridge that crosses the Niger River at Bentia, then destroyed it.
“In this place… there are two small bridges. The aim of the Islamists was to blow up both bridges, but fortunately only the old one was badly damaged,” a police source in Gao said.
“The new bridge, which is the most frequently used, sustained only very slight damage,” the source added.
Malian soldiers were sent to the spot, along with French troops deployed in the desert north of the vast country, “to avoid other acts of sabotage” by armed extremists, the police source said.
