By Bate Felix, ReutersNIONO, Mali - French troops advanced cautiously toward northern Mali on Sunday amid fears of ambush by al-Qaida-linked fighters, while its fighter jets pounded the Islamists' strongholds in the desert near Timbuktu.
In the central Malian town of Diabaly, seized by Islamist fighters on Monday, the wreckage of the Islamists' charred pickup trucks lay abandoned among the mud-brick buildings, television images showed.
Residents of the town, some 220 miles from the capital Bamako, said Islamists had fled into the bush after French airstrikes.
The commanders of French and Malian forces, who set up their operations center in the nearby town of Niono, said their forces were moving slowly toward Diabaly after reports that Islamist fighters had abandoned their turbans and flowing robes to blend in with local residents.
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