French help secure Timbuktu access

French and Malian forces have taken control of access to Timbuktu, a French military spokesman said today.

Colonel Thierry Burkhard said French paratroopers and helicopters backed ground forces to gain control of Timbuktu airport and roads into the desert town overnight and to allow Malian forces to move in on the stronghold of al Qaida-linked Islamist extremists.