In Brussels, the EU foreign ministers agreed to press ahead with sending a team to train the weak Malian army.
France said it launched military action in Mali last Friday to prevent it from becoming a "terrorist state".
"The actions of French forces, be it air forces or ground forces, are ongoing," France's Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Thursday.
Foreign forces in Mali
- Some 1,400 French troops in Mali, 900 troops involved elsewhere in Africa
- French Mirage and Rafale jets, Gazelle helicopters
- Chad to send 2,000 troops
- Nigeria to send 900 troops; Senegal, Burkina Faso, Niger and Togo expected to send 500 each, and Benin 300
- Ghana, Guinea and Chad also to send troops
- UK providing two C17 cargo planes for French effort
- Belgium and Denmark also sending transport planes
- US to provide communications help
On Wednesday, French and Malian sources said their forces launched the first major ground operation against the militants, with street battles taking place in the town of Diabaly, 350km (220 miles) north of the capital Bamako.
But Diabaly's mayor, Oumar Diakite, told the BBC from Bamako only Malian troops were involved in the battle.
Both sides suffered casualties, he said.
"The Islamists were burying their dead next to our cemetery in Diabaly. There were also three bodies of Malian soldiers lying on the side of the road," Mr Diakite added.
"The residents wanted to take the bodies and bury them, but they [the militants] would not let us."
'Limited support' Mr Diakite said French forces were in the nearby town of Niono.
"They are co-ordinating with the Malian army," he said.
Well-armed Islamists entered Diabaly on Monday, taking the town from Malian forces.
French fighter jets have since attacked rebel positions.Unless the areas bombed are
subsequently occupied on the ground, the opponents of the French and the
Malian government who are not killed could regroup”
France had some 800 troops on the ground in Mali, before the latest deployment.
Defence sources said their numbers were expected to increase to 2,500.A company of 190 Nigerian soldiers will be flown from the northern city of Kaduna into Mali on Thursday, the BBC's Will Ross in Kaduna reports.
It is the first West African contingent to join France's anti-rebel operation.
Nigeria will lead the West African force. It has promised to send a total of 900 troops as well as fighter jets.
Chad has also confirmed 2,000 soldiers will join the anti-rebel operation in Mali.
Benin, Ghana, Niger, Senegal, Burkina Faso and Togo have also pledged to take part.
In total, 3,300 regional troops will be deployed in the conflict under
French special forces in Mali
- 1st Foreign Cavalry Regiment, the only cavalry unit in the Foreign Legion
- Based in Orange, in France's south-eastern Vaucluse department, since 1967
- Formed in 1921 in Tunisia, partly from White Russian legionnaires
- Expert in desert warfare, saw action in Indochina, Algeria and First Gulf War
France has been pushing hard for
the deployment of West African troops and the arrival of the first
Nigerian troops should bring some relief to French soldiers who are only
getting limited support from the fairly weak Malian army, our
correspondent says.
It is not yet known exactly what role the West African troops
will play or how well prepared they are for what is likely to be a very
challenging ground assault against the Islamist militants, he adds.The UK has provided transport planes, and on Wednesday Germany gave two transport planes as logistical support.
EU foreign ministers agreed at a meeting in Brussels on Thursday to send a military training mission to Mali.
No combat role is envisaged for it.
"The threat of jihadi terrorists is something that should be a matter of great concern to all of us," Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans said, ahead of the meeting, Reuters news agency reports.
"And there is not one European country that can hide if this threat would present itself to the European continent."
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