Britain Bombs Mali by Air

Brits in Mali conflict

Britain sends planes to Mali to support the French operation against Islamists in the country. While fears of terrorist attacks in Europe.

Britain sent the weekend the first of two military transport planes to Mali to support the French forces, but Prime Minister David Cameron will not send troops.

The two heads of state talked Saturday night.

- The leaders agreed that the situation in Mali constitutes a real threat to international security because of terrorist activity taking place in the area, said Cameron's spokesman, according to The Guardian .

The first cargo plane was expected to leave the UK on Sunday. It was first visited France to collect material and was expected to fly to Mali on Monday.

Also the U.S. has indicated that it may support the operation.

A number of Mali's neighboring countries have pledged to contribute troops to a ground force. Senegal, Togo, Niger and Burkina Faso will send 500 soldiers each, while the regional superpower Nigeria will contribute 600 soldiers. Benin will send 300 military to be deployed along with the strength of Togo.

The French pilot Damien Boiteux died in one of the air attacks, writes The Guardian. According to an officer of the Malian army is more than 100 rebels killed and 11 government soldiers have been killed in the fighting.

Human rights organizations have reported about ten civilians killed, writes The Guardian.

France continued air attacks

French fighter jets and helicopter gunships attack the Islamists further north in Mali and moves his efforts against the rebels' main bases.

- Two helicopters bombarding positions of the Islamists, who are trying to fight back, says Soumaila Maiga, who lives in the area of ​​town Gao in Mali.

- The aircraft is so fast that we can only hear the sound of them.

French forces have also attacked positions in the smaller towns counters and Douentza, located further south, according to a spokesman for Ansar Dine, one of the Islamist insurgents in the area.

- There is now raid, it was completed some yesterday, and there will be more tomorrow, said French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le drian Sunday.

Fear of terror

France has the weekend involved heavy military in Mali, where it emerged last week for fear that Islamist insurgents were advancing towards the capital Bamako. The rebels have since last spring controlled the northern part of the country.

When France intervened with air strikes on Friday had heavily armed Islamists captured the city Konner and could reach the capital Bamako after a few days.

France has deployed 550 soldiers in Mali, in the city of Mopti and Bamako.

Western countries fear that the fundamentalist Islamists will use the country as a base to carry out terrorist attacks against the West. Mali rebels have links to al-Qaeda groups in Yemen, Somalia and North Africa.