A detachment of the French army will "secure" on Wednesday a strategic bridge on the River Niger in Markala, near Segou, Mali in the west, which leads to the south and the capital Bamako, to 'to prevent access to the armed Islamists, said a journalist from AFP.
"The mission entrusted to us is to keep the bridge in order to deny the enemy access to the South," he told AFP Colonel Frederick (his first name) of the 21st RIMA (Regiment Marine Infantry ) came from Chad. "We will put in place a mechanism to secure the area," he added.
French military source, it says that armed Islamist fighters are about 80 km north of Markala, a town near Segou, 120 km northeast of Bamako.
The detachment of a hundred French soldiers traveling in a twenty vehicles, party late Tuesday afternoon Bamako airport, arrived there Wednesday morning.
He pointed to men Markala French special forces present last week alongside some Malian soldiers.
French soldiers engaged for the first time Tuesday on the ground in Mali, dating back Wednesday to the north to hunt down the armed Islamist groups linked to al-Qaeda.
In western Mali, north of Bamako, are "groups the hardest, most fanatics, better organized, more determined and better equipped," according to the French Minister of Defence, Jean-Yves Le Mondrian.
"We are dealing with several hundred more than a thousand - 1200, 1300 -, terrorists in the area, perhaps with reinforcements tomorrow," he said on French radio RTL.
Progress towards the north is another step in the commitment after French air raids since January 11 in the center and north of the country to prevent Islamists advanced towards the capital Bamako, in the south, and destabilize fighters Islamists.
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