Mali's army 'seizes' Douentza from Islamists

 
Mali's army needs help to recapture the north

Malian troops have captured the strategic central town of Douentza from militant Islamists, an army source has told the BBC.

This is the first time the military has claimed to have retaken a town in the Islamist-held north.
The military has also launched an offensive to regain Konna town, the source said.
On Tuesday, African Union chairman Thomas Boni Yayi said Nato should send forces to Mali to fight the Islamists.
He said the Malian conflict was a global crisis which required Nato to intervene, in the way it had done in Afghanistan to fight the Taleban and al-Qaeda.
Nato troops should work alongside an African force in Mali, he said.
Some European leaders have voiced concerns that jihadists could use Mali's vast Islamist-controlled area, which is the size of France, to launch attacks on Europe.
Last month, the UN Security Council approved plans to send some 3,000 West African troops to fight the Malian Islamists.
But UN officials said they did not expect a deployment to take place until September 2013.
'Heavy shooting' The Malian military source told BBC Afrique that Douentza, about 800km (500 miles) north-east of the capital Bamako, had been captured from the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (Mujao), following an exchange of fire.
There has been no comment so far from Mujao, which took control of the town in September 2012.
The source said the army has also launched operations to oust the Islamists from Konna, which is near the edge of government-controlled territory and the regional capital, Mopti.

Residents told AFP that two sides are involved in heavy shooting in Konna.
"We are going to oust them," an unnamed Malian soldier is quoted by AFP as saying.
Mujao and another Islamist group, Ansar Dine, have controlled most of northern Mali since last April.
They formed an alliance with Tuareg rebels, over-running government forces in the northern regions of Timbuktu, Kidal and Gao.
But their alliance quickly collapsed, with the Islamists capturing the region's main urban centres and marginalising the Tuareg rebels.
The Islamists have been accused of war crimes and attempting to impose a strict version of Sharia law, prompting fears the region could become a regional hub for al-Qaeda-linked militancy.
Islamist fighters in the historic city of Timbuktu have demolished several Sufi shrines and mosques - regarded as idolatrous by the hard-liners - prompting international fears for the future of the Unesco world heritage site.
Burkina Faso is trying to mediate an end to the conflict.