Photo Gallery Taking Mali's North
French and Malian troops have advanced deep into northern Mali and pushed out the Islamists across the region. But there is plenty of room for the jihadists to hide in the wilds of the Sahel.
A Malian soldier near an unexploded piece of ordnance in the town of Konna, which was liberated over the weekend.
Standing guard on the road between Konna and Sevare. Islamists have put up little resistance, preferring, it would seem, to melt into the desert.
A convoy of French military vehicles heads toward Sevare in central Mali on Friday.
Trucks packed with people and goods in central Mali. French troops have made rapid progress and even claim to have reached the northern city of Timbuktu.
A French military vehicle in central Mali. The Islamists, even as they wilt under the pressure of the French military, aren't likely to quickly disappear. Northern Mali is just one area of the vast Sahel providing them plenty of room to move about freely.
A Malian soldier in Konna. The advances into northern Mali frees an area which has been under Islamist control for the last nine months. The French report having encountered little resistance so far in their operation.
The conbined French-Malian offensive has been underway for two weeks. French Col. Thierry Burkhard said on Monday that the Timbuktu airport was taken without a shot being fired.
Malian soldiers patrolling the streets of Diabaly, about 400 miles north of the capital Bamako, on Saturday.
Graphic: The Sahel offers a vast area for Islamists to operate virtually untouched.
