French soldiers take positions in Mali's Anefis town

A contingent of French soldiers was deployed to the town of Anefis in north-eastern Mali between Wednesday night and Thursday morning with the intention of carrying out surveillance on the Malian troops, a source from the Malian military told Xinhua on Thursday. "The French do not want us to proceed to Kidal, they should clearly state their intentions on this matter. We hope that France understands the urgency of the situation," an officer of Mali's special forces told Xinhua on phone. The Malian forces had earlier on Wednesday launched an assault against the positions of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) in Anefis following a wave of expulsions of black malians from the main town of Kidal. The final death toll from the fighting in Anefis is 31 on the side of rebels, two vehicles were burnt, four vehicles equipped with weapons were seized and one person was arrested. The second person who had been arrested died when he repeatedly hit his head on the body of the truck while being transferred to Gao town. There were only two soldiers of the Mali Armed Forces (FAM) who were slightly injured. A local source said that the rebels had left the town of Kidal to go and reorganize themselves in the neighboring areas. They are still awaiting for reinforcement from Libya. Editor: Chen Zhi