Fresh Mali fighting as Islamists reinvade Timbuktu

Backed by a French fighter jet, Malian soldiers plus a French unit fought back Sunday when Islamist extremists used a car bomb to cover their re-infiltration of the desert town of Timbuktu up to its center. An official communiqué reported one Malian soldier and 21 Islamist rebels killed. One French soldier was wounded,  said the military in Paris. The French offensive in January pushed the rebels out of northern Mali into the desert but they have hit back with terrorist bombings and raids.