1,800 Chadian Soldiers Securing Mali's Kidal

About 1,800 Chadian soldiers have entered the northern Mali city of Kidal to "secure" what was the last stronghold of Islamist rebels, the French defence ministry said on Tuesday.

A ministry official said French forces, now numbering 4,000 in Mali, also took control and were securing the city's airport following paratrooper reinforcements.

The official said French air strikes against rebel positions in the Kidal region had hit 25 targets in recent days, "mainly logistical depots and training centers" in the areas of Aguelhok and Tessalit.

Chad had promised to provide 2,000 soldiers to the African-led AFISMA intervention force in Mali, which is starting to take shape following a lightning offensive by French forces against the rebels, who seized control of Mali's vast desert north last year.

Meanwhile, secular rebels from Mali's Tuareg people said they have arrested two Islamist extremists, including the man blamed for enforcing stoning deaths and amputations in Timbuktu.

A statement from the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad said Mohamed Moussa Ag Mohamed of Ansar Dine and Oumeini Ould Baba Akhmed of the Movement for Unity and Oneness of the Jihad, or MUJAO, were arrested Saturday near Mali's border with Algeria.

The NMLA said the two men have been interrogated and information shared with French troops.