Adama Drabo, 16, stands in the police station in Sevare, some 620 kilometers (385 miles) north of Mali's capital Bamako, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. Drabo, who said he was captured traveling without papers by Malian troops and eventually handed over to Gendarmes in Sevare, was arrested on suspicion of working for Islamic militant group MUJAO and caught trying to flee south, police said. A farmer's son from Niono, he admitted to having worked in the kitchens of a jihadist training base in Douentza for the past month. Drabo said his only motivation in joining the Islamic militant group had been to earn a wage, having struggled to find work at home, and that he was one of the youngest recruits on the base. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
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Adama Drabo, 16, stands in the police station in Sevare, some 620 kilometers (385 miles) north of Mali's capital Bamako, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. Drabo, who said he was captured traveling without papers by Malian troops and eventually handed over to Gendarmes in Sevare, was arrested on suspicion of working for Islamic militant group MUJAO and caught trying to flee south, police said. A farmer's son from Niono, he admitted to having worked in the kitchens of a jihadist training base in Douentza for the past month. Drabo said his only motivation in joining the Islamic militant group had been to earn a wage, having struggled to find work at home, and that he was one of the youngest recruits on the base. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
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Adama Drabo, 16, sits in the police station in Sevare, some 620 kilometers (385 miles) north of Mali's capital Bamako Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. Drabo, who said he was captured travelling without papers by Malian troops and eventually handed over to Gendarmes in Sevare, was arrested on suspicion of working for Islamic militant group MUJAO and caught trying to flee south, Police said. A farmer's son from Niono, he admitted to having worked in the kitchens of a jihadist training base in Douentza for the past month. Drabo said his only motivation in joining the Islamic militant group had been to earn a wage, having struggled to find work at home, and that he was one of the youngest recruits on the base. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
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French soldiers fill up their tank at a local petrol station in Sevare, some 620 kilometers (385 miles) north of Mali's capital Bamako, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. The French currently have some 2,400 forces in the country and have said that they will stay as long as needed in Mali, a former French colony. However, they have called for African nations to take the lead in fortifying the Malian army's efforts. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
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French soldiers stand at a crossroads as they arrive in the city of Sevare, Mali, some 620 kms (385 miles) north of Bamako, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. Mali's military and French forces pushed toward Gao on Friday, in their farthest move north and east since launching an operation two weeks ago to retake land controlled by the rebels, residents and a security official said Friday. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
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A Malian soldier stops at the Aviator's Club bar to watch an African Cup of Nations football match in Sevare, some 620 kms (400 miles) north of Mali's capital Bamako Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. One wing of Mali's Ansar Dine rebel group has split off to create its own movement, saying that they want to negotiate a solution to the crisis in Mali, in a declaration that indicates at least some of the members of the al-Qaida-linked group are searching for a way out of the extremist movement in the wake of French airstrikes. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
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A child looks at French soldiers filling up their tank at a local petrol station in Sevare, some 620 kilometers (385 miles) north of Mali's capital Bamako, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. The French currently have some 2,400 forces in the country and have said that they will stay as long as needed in Mali, a former French colony. However, they have called for African nations to take the lead in fortifying the Malian army's efforts. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
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Malian people welcome French soldiers as they arrive in the city of Sevare, Mali, some 620 kms (385 miles) north of Bamako, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. Mali's military and French forces pushed toward Gao on Friday, in their farthest move north and east since launching an operation two weeks ago to retake land controlled by the rebels, residents and a security official said Friday. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
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An internally displaced child carries a chair in the IDP camp sent ouside Sevare, some 620 kms (400 miles) north of Mali's capital Bamako Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. One wing of Mali's Ansar Dine rebel group has split off to create its own movement, saying that they want to negotiate a solution to the crisis in Mali, in a declaration that indicates at least some of the members of the al-Qaida-linked group are searching for a way out of the extremist movement in the wake of French airstrikes. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
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An unidentified man takes a picture of the charred remains of trucks used by radical Islamists on the outskirt of Diabaly, Mali, some 460kms (320 miles) North of the capital Bamako Monday Jan. 21, 2013. French and Malian troops took control Monday of the town of Diabaly, patrolling the streets in armored personnel carriers and inspecting the charred remains of a pickup truck with a mounted machine gun left behind by the fleeing militants. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Tuaregs say they seized Mali towns from Islamists
SEVARE, Mali (AP) — Tuareg fighters in northern Mali say they have seized control of the strategic city of Kidal and seven other northern towns from Islamist extremists.
The website of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad — the Tuaregs' name for northern Mali — made the claim Tuesday.
It was not possible to independently verify the Tuareg movement's claim. The Tuaregs' statement comes as French and Malian forces say they control the fabled desert city of Timbuktu.
The Tuareg group said it is "fully subscribed to the fight against terrorist organizations" and will work with French troops.
But it "categorically refuses" to allow the return to the north of the Malian army, which it accuses of summary executions of civilians.
Tags:
hamas, malian army, national movement, jihad, sahara, culture_politics, claim, algeria, timbuktu, mali, tuareg, northern mali, niger, malian forces, strategic city, french troops, islamist extremists, tuaregs, terrorist organizations, northern towns, fabled desert city, mali towns, tuareg fighters, tuareg movement, tuareg group, summary executions
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