[An Nahar] A Malian soldier died in Timbuktu's first suicide kaboom as the city came under assault Wednesday night, after French President Francois Hollande...the Socialist president of La Belle France, and a fine job he's doing of it...
vowed a military operation to drive out radical Islamists from Mali was in its last phase.
The bomb went off as a group of gunnies, trying to force their way into the ancient city, exchanged fire with French and Malian soldiers who chased out the Islamists in late January.
"A boobytrapped car went
kaboom!during the night (Wednesday) near the Timbuktu airport ... The jihadist who set off his belt was killed instantly and one of the soldiers injured in the kaboom died in hospital," said a military source on Thursday.
Two other soldiers were maimed in the kaboom.
Sources in the town reported sustained gunfire until about 3am (local and GMT) on Thursday morning.
"Since last night we have been hearing gun shots in Timbuktu. There was an attempted infiltration and shooting broke out," a local government official told AFP.
"A vehicle carrying armed people tried to enter Timbuktu by force on Wednesday night and French and African soldiers retaliated," a security source in the town said.