French and Malian troops retook control of Timbuktu, a UNESCO World Heritage site, on Monday after Islamist rebel occupiers fled the ancient Sahara trading town and torched several buildings, including a priceless manuscript library.
The United States and European Union are backing a French-led intervention in Mali aimed at removing the threat of radical Islamist jihadists using the West African state's inhospitable desert north as a springboard for international attacks.
The recovery of Timbuktu followed the swift capture by French and Malian forces at the weekend of Gao, another major town in Mali's north that had also been occupied by the alliance of Islamist militant groups since last year.
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