http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2013/01/2013118122039129487.html

The Malian army, supported by French forces, has retaken control of two key towns from rebels after fierce fighting on the ground in central regions of the country.

French and Malian troops wrested control of the strategic town of Konna, located about 700 kilometres from Bamako, and Diabaly which is 400 kilometres north of the capital of the sprawling country on Friday.

A spokesperson from the al-Qaeda-linked Ansar al-Dine rebel group confirmed to Al Jazeera’s Mohammed Adow that its fighters pulled out of the town of Konna.

"They withdrew from the town after [incurring] huge casualties in the fighting in the town. They say they will continue their fighting in other parts of the north of Mali," Adow said from the Malian capital Bamako.

He said that fighting is continuing in other towns where French and Malian forces have admitted encountering "stiff resistance" from rebel fighters.

In Diabaly, which the rbels had seized on Monday even as their bases were pounded by French fighter jets, local sources reported the rebels had been driven out.

"Diabaly is freed, the Islamists have left and the French and Malian troops have entered the town," said a member of the local municipal council. Her statement was confirmed by a regional security source. 

Armed groups that have controlled northern Mali since April pushed south into government-held territory and seized Konna, about 700km by road from Bamako, on January 10

Why is it "Malian" for Mali, but Balinese for Bali?

Anyway, this situation is an interesting one, where both sides of the civil war have been co-opted by outsiders. Originally it was Tuareg rebels fighting the Mali government, but then radical Islamists came in from outside and made it their struggle, to true and make a new Afghanistan, which of course brings the African Union and France in to fight back.

Although the will of the people of Mali seems to be against the radicals, mostly because the more severe brand of Islam that the radicals are bringing in is more severe than the people of Mali embrace. For one, the radicals are trying to stamp out music, and Mali is known as a hub of musical culture.