France claims control of Gao in Mali

France has claimed that al-Qaida-linked extremists have been defeated in the key city of Gao in north-eastern Mali.

The announcement comes just two weeks after France launched its military offensive to rout the Islamists from power. The French military said in a statement on its website that their special forces, which had stormed in by land and by air, had come under fire from “several terrorist elements” that were later “destroyed”.