Mali: French Official Says Weapons Stockpiled by Militants Are Found
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Version 0 of 1. Speaking at the end of a two-day visit to Mali on Friday, the French defense minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, said that French forces had discovered tons of weapons stockpiled by fighters linked to Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, many of them foreign, and that they had planned to use the country’s north as a base for international attacks. Since mid-January, when France launched a ground and air operation in Mali, France and allied Chadian forces have taken back most of the vast territory that the militants had seized nearly a year ago. But those forces have met heavy resistance from militants holed up in mountains near Algeria. Mr. Le Drian told Europe 1 radio that one cache uncovered in the Ametetai valley included heavy arms, material for improvised explosive devices and suicide bomb belts. |