Fifty Arrested in Islamist Hold-Out in Mali

Malian troops have arrested about 50 people on an island in the Niger river that was used as a hide-out by armed Islamists in northern Mali, military sources told Agence France Presse Friday.

On Friday morning, an AFP correspondent on the island of Kadji, near the town of Gao, saw two boats filled with prisoners, all bearded and with shaved heads, crossing the Niger.

A Malian soldier who was escorting one of the boats said that since the beginning of the operation on Thursday about 50 people had been arrested, including foreigners from Togo and Burkina Faso.

The presence of the men was condemned by local villagers, the source said. "People told us that they also hid weapons, we're searching. They (the prisoners) said nothing but they are going to talk," he added.

The operation at Kadji was led by a Tuareg colonel, El Hadj Ag Gamou, according to a soldier.

Colonel Salihou Maiga, commander of the paramilitary police in the Gao region, had earlier told AFP there had been no fighting during the operation on the island.

On Thursday, a senior Malian officer announced that "a large-scale operation" had been launched in the village of Kadji, less than 10 kilometers (six miles) from Gao, which was seized back from Islamists by French and Malian armed forces late last month.

Gao, the biggest town in north Mali, has since then however experienced fresh violence, including suicide bombings carried out by Islamists who infiltrated the town.

French troops, who intervened in January to help put down the Islamist insurgency in northern Mali, left Kadji early on Friday morning, a Malian soldier said, while Malian special forces remained.

Witnesses told AFP two weeks ago that members of the armed extremist Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) had taken refuge on the island after being driven out of Gao.

A local elected official called for intervention by French and African troops deployed in the north to destroy this "new base", from which armed Islamists could carry out attacks on Gao and other places in the region.