How Islamist fighters withdrawn from two towns in central Mali following French air strikes

 How Islamist fighters withdrawn from two towns in central Mali following French air strikes.

Mali's army earlier said it had recaptured Konna, which triggered the French intervention after it was seized by the rebels.
Now the mayor of Diabaly says soldiers have taken control of the town.
Islamist fighters in neighbouring Algeria say they have kidnapped foreign gas workers in retaliation for France's involvement in the Mali conflict.
Meanwhile, the UN refugee agency says it fears the fighting could force 700,000 people from their homes.

Some 150,000 people have already gone to neighbouring countries, Reuters news agency reports-we found the French army in a dusty military compound on the banks of the slow, broad Niger River”

  Andrew Harding Africa correspondent

It quotes the UNHCR as saying that 400,000 more could flee Mali, with a further 300,000 displaced within the country.

The first 100 troops of an African force landed in the capital, Bamako on Thursday evening.
The soldiers from Togo and Nigeria are part of a long-planned West African force that will join the French and Malian armies in fighting the Islamist insurgents who took over northern Mali last year.
Nigeria says it will increase its forces to 1,200.
France says it now has 1,800 troops in Mali after intervening initially with air strikes to try to halt a rapid advance by the Islamists.
Correspondents say a strong French contingent is at Segou, north-east of Bamako, to guard a major bridge across the Niger river, which the rebels would have to cross to threaten the capital.