News on Top The UK has provided logistical and technical back-up to the French.

 

The UK has provided logistical and technical back-up to the French

The UK government is to discuss offering more help to French forces fighting Islamist rebels in Mali.

Two military aircraft have already been lent and David Cameron has said there could be further assistance with transport and surveillance.
But the Ministry of Defence says there are no plans for a ground combat role.
Following British deaths in an attack on a gas plant in Algeria by Islamist militants, Mr Cameron said north Africa was becoming a "magnet for jihadists".
Foreign Secretary William Hague will answer questions from MPs from 11:30 GMT, and is also expected to give a written ministerial statement on the situation in Mali.
Concerns about the growing influence of al-Qaeda in north Africa have grown following the deployment
of French troops to tackle militant groups linked to the network in Mali and the Algerian hostage crisis.
Militants behind the Algeria attack, in which at least 48 foreign hostages died, have called on France to end their intervention in Mali.
'Frustrate terrorists' Speaking in the House of Commons on Monday, the UK prime minister said: "Together with our partners in the region, we are in the midst of a generational struggle against an ideology which is an extreme distortion of the Islamic faith, and which holds that mass murder and terror are not only acceptable but necessary."
The response of the international community to this threat would top the agenda during the UK's presidency of the G8 group of leading industrialised nations, Mr Cameron said.
"We must frustrate the terrorists with our security. We must beat them militarily. We must address the poisonous narrative they feed on. We must close down the ungoverned space in which they thrive and we must deal with the grievances they use to garner support."