I noted that the French didn't seem to really kill many jihadis as they road-marched north into the cities held by al Qaeda. The jihadis scattered and I hoped that the Mali government can come to an agreement with the Tuaregs on northern autonomy in order to gain Tuareg help to find the jihadis. Without their help, French bombing won't be that effective. To bomb, you really do need to know what to bomb--and what not to bomb, no?
So this is encouraging:
Two senior Islamist militants have been captured in northern Mali, including a top leader of radical group Ansar Dine.
The Tuareg separatist group MNLA says it arrested Mohamed Moussa Ag Mohamed and Oumeini Ould Baba Akhmed on Saturday near Mali's border with Algeria.
Ag Mohamed is the number-three leader of Ansar Dine and helped impose a harsh form of Islamic law on the city of Timbuktu. Baba Akhmed is believed to be a member of the Movement for Unification and Jihad in West Africa, also known as MUJAO.
The two groups along with al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb controlled the major towns of northern Mali for about nine months before being driven out by the French and Malian armies.
French warplanes continued bombing raids against Islamist targets on Sunday, striking at supply routes and training centers in the remote desert of northeastern Mali. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said the objective is to destroy the militants' rear bases and depots so they cannot not stay in northern Mali long-term.
Tuaregs clearly showed how useful they can be if are brought into the anti-jihadi camp. France shows what they can bring to helping the Tuaregs--who lacked the strength to resist the jihadis in the cities until now--hunt the jihadis.
