BAMAKO, Mali - Gunfire echoed across Bamako on Tuesday as Malian government troops battled each other, with one side trying to oust soldiers who seized power in a coup more than a month ago.
Coup leaders, who ostensibly ceded power to an interim civilian government on April 12 but who still wield power, said they control the state broadcaster, the airport, and a military base, fending off attacks by opposing forces.
Captain Amadou Sanogo, the junta’s leader, told a
private radio station Monday that the countercoup had failed and that
his soldiers have captured foreign fighters.
The presidential guard is part of Mali’s parachutist regiment, known as the Red Berets, who are believed to have remained loyal to the ousted president, Amadou Toumani Toure.
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"Islamist burns saint’s tomb in Timbuktu" Associated Press, May 07, 2012
BAMAKO, Mali - A new member of an Islamist group in northern Mali attacked and burned a saint’s tomb classified as a UNESCO World Heritage site in Timbuktu, the spokesman for the group said Sunday.
The act threatens to raise tensions that have been
building between residents and the Islamists who occupied the city in
April, and raises worries that instability could lead to the destruction
of historic sites in the fabled town known as an ancient seat of
Islamic learning....
Translation: The CIA has set up a training camp and base of operations in Mali.
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Related: Microsoft Behind Mali Coup?
