Mali Islamists blow up strategic bridge leading to Niger

BAMAKO (AFP) – Islamist fighters have dynamited a strategic bridge near the Niger border on the road to Gao, one of the main towns in northern Mali occupied by extremists, sources said Friday.

“The Islamists dynamited the Tassiga bridge. No one can pass to Niger or come to Gao,” said the owner of a transport business, Abdou Maiga. A security source from neighbouring Niger confirmed the bridge’s destruction