French and Malian forces approach Timbuktu

French and Malian troops have held a strategic bridge and the airport in the northern town of Gao as their force presses towards Timbuktu, officials say.

The advances come as French and African land forces also make their way to Gao from neighbouring Niger in an effort to defeat the al-Qaida-linked Islamists who seized control of northern Mali more than nine months ago.

The French military announced late on Saturday it had liberated Gao, though other officials said the fight to control the area was in progress. Lieutenant Colonel Diarran Kone, a spokesman for Mali's defence minister, said on Sunday the forces were patrolling the town and had maintained their hold over the bridge and airport overnight.

The advance marked the biggest achievement for the French and Malian troops since they began their operation to oust the Islamist radicals two weeks ago.

About 600 French-led troops were said to be on their way to Timbuktu on the southern edge of the Sahara, where several Europeans have been taken hostage. French forces are reported to have captured Léré, on the road to the desert city. It remains unclear what kind of resistance the forces in Gao will face in the coming days.

The French defence ministry said Malian reinforcements and troops from Chad and Niger had flown in to secure Gao and the surrounding area.

Gao airport is about 3.7 miles (6km) east of the town. The bridge over the Niger river is at the southern entrance to Gao, one of the three main towns in northern Mali, and some 750 miles (1,200km) from the capital, Bamako. The Islamist positions in the town, described by officials in Paris as the "training camps, infrastructure and logistic bases for the terrorist groups", have been targeted by French air strikes.

This area of northern Mali, including the key towns of Gao, Kidal and Timbuktu, has been under the control of Islamic fundamentalists since it was overrun by an alliance of Tuareg rebels and Islamists last April.

All communication with Timbuktu has been cut off, but local sources said the town was almost deserted as the rebels fled to villages and mountain areas further north while the French intervention force advanced.

Residents in Sévaré, on the road to Gao, said on Saturday they had been delighted to see the French troops. "Gao is a big city. We think the rebellion is finished," said Bah Mamadoo. "This has all been made possible by the French intervention. They are helping us and our army."

As the French and Malian soldiers advanced, one Islamist group said it was prepared to "negotiate the liberation" of a French hostage, Gilberto Rodriguez Leal, who has been held since he was kidnapped in the west of Mali in November.

A column of soldiers and tanks from Chad, based in Niger, left the capital, Niamey, on Saturday for the Mali border, where a contingent of Nigerian troops is camped. Both forces are under orders to head for Gao, less than three hours from the border.

When Islamists seized a large area of northern Mali last year, they imposed strict sharia law on residents. France took a surprise decision to carry out air strikes and send troops to the west African state after the Islamists began to move south towards Bamako just over two weeks ago.

A United Nations-backed force, made up mostly of west African troops, had not been expected to be deployed in the country until autumn. Paris has said it expects African nations to "pick up the baton" and send troops to Mali. Several countries have pledged military aid and soldiers to help wrest back control of the north.

The African Union asked the UN security council to authorise logistical help to permit the 6,000-strong international force to be deployed quickly.

The UN refugee agency says more than 7,000 civilians have fled the fighting into neighbouring countries.