Malian soldiers transport in a pickup truck a dozen suspected Islamist rebels on Friday, February 8, after arresting them north of Gao. A suicide bomber blew himself up on February 8 near a group of Malian soldiers in the northern city, where Islamist rebels driven from the town have resorted to guerilla attacks.
Bamako, Mali (CNN) -- Islamist militants gained ground in one Malian town on Monday even as government troops stepped up their offensive to wrest control from rebels.
Militants have taken control of the central town of Diabaly, French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said, according to CNN affiliate BFM TV.
Word of the rebel advance on Monday came as the U.N. Security Council met to discuss the conflict in Mali, where Islamist rebels have been seizing territory for months.
World leaders from a number of countries have said they'll send troops or provide logistical support for the fight against Islamist militants in the West African nation.
France took the international lead in assisting Mali over the weekend, with military airstrikes targeting rebel training camps and other targets.
Officials said France's intervention last week was necessary to stop a rebel takeover of the capital, Bamako.
"Our assessment was that they (the rebels) were actually able to take Bamako. So we decided that what was at stake was the existence of the state of Mali, and beyond Mali was the stability of all west Africa," said Gerard Araud, French ambassador to the United Nations. "We had no other choice to launch this military intervention."
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The United States has promised to help the French effort, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Monday. That assistance could include logistical and intelligence support.
"I commend France for taking the steps that it has. And what we have promised them is that we will work with them to cooperate with them and to provide whatever assistance we can to try to help them in that effort," Panetta told reporters on his plane en route to Portugal.
The United States has already started sharing intelligence from satellites and intercepted signals with the French, defense officials said on Monday.
In addition, the Pentagon is considering sending refueling tankers so that French jets can fly longer, more sustained combat missions, according to the officials.
Drones "are under consideration," the defense officials said, though the military's stash of unmanned aerial vehicles is in heavy demand.
Both stressed that these would be surveillance drones and said there are no plans yet to deploy them.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland, meanwhile, said the United States is reviewing a number of requests from the French, but that no decisions have been made.
The United States, she said, is "not in the position to support the Malian military directly until we have democratic processes restored by way of an election in Mali."
It was unclear Monday when France's role in the military offensive would end, and whether there could be consequences beyond Mali's borders.
"There are risks in France and in other countries as well," Le Drian told BFM. "We are extremely vigilant in that regard."
Malian Foreign Minister Tieman Hubert Coulibaly said Monday that it was unclear how long clashes with Islamist militants would last.
"Clearly, for us it's not just about making them retreat," he told BFM. "It is necessary to chase them out."
Coulibaly said his country was grateful for France's assistance, which it "urgently requested." And Mali may call on other countries such as the United States for military aid, he said.
"It is a problem which is currently in Mali, but which concerns the whole civilized world. And those who are in action against Mali could attack the rest of the world," he told BFM. "It is a cancer which could have spread if we had not intervened, of course, with the precious aid of France."
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France has several hundred ground troops in Mali, and nearby West African nations have pledged to send hundreds of troops to join in the fight. Nigeria, which already has a technical team on the ground in Mali, expects to have troops in the country by next week, a presidential spokesman told CNN. He declined to say how many soldiers would be deployed.
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Where is Mali?Officials from the United Kingdom and Germany have said they're considering offering logistical support to the Malian government as it fights insurgents controlling the north.
As French fighter jets bombed rebel strongholds over the weekend, both sides of the fight said they were determined to win.
"France's goal is to lead a relentless struggle against terrorist groups, preventing any new offensive of these groups to the south of Mali," France's Defense Ministry said in a statement.
Islamist rebels in Mali acknowledged Sunday they suffered heavy losses in fights with the country's military and French troops, but they said it wouldn't stop them.
"The war has only started," said Sanda Ould Boumama, a spokesman for the al Qaeda-linked rebel group Ansar Dine. "We expect more casualties."
He accused the French military of attacking Malians.
"Now the world can see that it's the French who are the real terrorists," he said.
French and Malian military officials say the assaults are against rebel strongholds, not civilians.
On Monday, Amnesty International called on all sides in the conflict to protect civilians. The rights groups also urged the international community to support the deployment of human rights monitors.
"There are real concerns that the fighting might lead to indiscriminate or other unlawful attacks in areas where members of armed Islamist groups and civilians are intermingled," Paule Rigaud, Amnesty International's deputy director for Africa, said in a statement.
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"The international community has a responsibility to prevent a fresh surge in abuses during this new phase of the conflict. Forces involved in armed attacks should avoid indiscriminate shelling at all costs, and do their utmost to prevent civilian casualties," he added.
A French colony until 1960, Mali had military rulers for decades until its first democratic elections in 1992. It remained stable politically until March, when a group of soldiers toppled the government, saying it had not provided adequate support for them to fight ethnic Tuareg rebels in the country's largely desert north.
Tuareg rebels, who'd sought independence for decades, took advantage of the power vacuum and seized swaths of land. A power struggle then erupted in the north between the Tuaregs and local al Qaeda-linked radicals, who wound up in control of a large area as the Tuaregs retreated.
The United Nations says amputations, floggings and public executions -- like the July stoning of a couple who had reportedly had an affair -- became common in areas controlled by radical Islamists. They applied a strict interpretation of Sharia law in banning music, smoking, drinking and watching sports on television, and damaged Timbuktu's historic tombs and shrines.
A recent video posted online purports to show Islamic extremists from the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa cutting off the hand of a thief and flogging another man, accused of having sexual relations with a girl with "mental deficiencies."
In the video, the supposed crimes of the men are read aloud before the punishments are carried out. A small crowd, including children, cheer.
Already, the armed groups' activity and a pervasive drought have displaced hundreds of thousands of Malians.
And the Islamists' movement southward has raised concerns among leaders in West Africa and elsewhere, some of them calling for swift and decisive military intervention in support of Mali's government, based in Bamako.
The U.N. Security Council last month authorized a one-year military peacekeeping mission in the country. Members of ECOWAS, the Economic Community of West African States, pledged thousands of troops, and the Security Council has urged other nations to contribute forces as well.
The Security Council met Monday to receive an update on Mali. Following that meeting, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, said there may be a need for a new Security Council resolution.
The United Nations said preparations are under way for a U.N. multidisciplinary team to go to Bamako soon.
Nigeria, Niger, Burkina Faso, Togo, Senegal and Benin are among the countries that have pledged to send troops, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told reporters Monday.
Mali's northern neighbor, Algeria, will close its border with Mali, Algeria's state news agency, Algeria Press Service reported.
A spokesman for Germany's Foreign Ministry said the country's leaders were considering offering medical, logistical and humanitarian aid to Mali.
Two British military transport aircraft have been assigned to help with the French troop deployment, but no British forces will be in a combat role, said Mark Simmonds, minister for Africa for the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office.
"The ferocity and fanaticism of the extremists in northern Mali must be not be allowed to sweep unchecked into the country's capital," Simmonds told British lawmakers Monday. "France, which has an historic relationship with Mali, is quite rightly in the lead. In the coming days, we will be focused on the regional and international diplomacy we must achieve to check this emerging threat."
CNN's Catherine E. Shoichet, Dana Ford, Chris Lawrence, Dheepthi Namasivayam, Vladimir Duthiers, Saskya Vandoorne and Fred Pleitgen contributed to this report.
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Malians look at the charred motorcycle used by a suicide bomber before he blew himself up near a group of Malian soldiers on February 8. The act marked the first suicide attack in the embattled west African nation since the start of a French-led offensive to oust the Islamists from Mali's north, where they had controlled key towns for 10 months.
A convoy of French army vehicles head toward Gao on February 7. France is mulling over when to hand off its four-week-old intervention to U.N. peacekeepers.
A man searches through the ruins of a building destroyed by French airstrikes in Douentza, Mali, on Tuesday, February 5. The town was retaken by French and Malian troops in January.
A child holds up a machine gun round found in the ruins of a building destroyed by French airstrikes in Douentza, Mali, on February 5.
A child leads a donkey cart past a destroyed Malian army armored vehicle near Douentza, Mali, on February 5.
Malians welcome France's President Francois Hollande as he arrives in Timbuktu on Saturday, February 2. French-led troops are working to secure the area against Islamist militants.
A man sweeps the red carpet at Mali's Mopti airport on January 2 before the arrival of Hollande and Mali's interim President Dioncounda Traore.
French soldiers patrol next to the Djingareyber mosque, on January 31, in Timbuktu, Mali. The city was recaptured on January 28, by French-led forces in their offensive against Islamist rebels who have been occupying Mali's north since last April.
French air strikes destroyed this vehicle outside the northern Malian city of Gao.
Men play boules, a game that was forbidden under Islamist rule. on January Wednesday, 30, in Gao, Mali. Gao, once a key Islamist stronghold, was retaken on January 26 by French and Malian troops.
A Malian soldier tries to disperse looters in Timbuktu, Mali, on Tuesday, January 29. Malian and French forces have been battling Islamist militants to loosen their grip on the country. France was the colonial power in Mali until 1960.
People cheer along a road in Ansongo, a town near the northern Malian city of Gao, as troops from neighboring Niger enter the city.
A man waves a French flag as residents celebrate the arrival of Niger troops on January 29 in Ansongo.
Niger troops enter Ansongo on January 29.
Malian soldiers enter the historic city of Timbuktu on Monday, January 28.
French soldiers flying back from Timbuktu arrive at the French army base camp in Sevare on January 28.
A man prays in the recently liberated town of Douentza on January 28.
Wounded Malian soldiers rest after receiving medical care at the Polyclinique of Kati on Sunday, January 27.
Malian soldiers wait at a checkpoint near Sevare on January 27.
A French soldier walks through the bush in central Mali on January 27.
Malian soldiers wait at a checkpoint near Sevare on January 27.
A Malian soldier stands amid debris Saturday, January 26, in the key central town of Konna, which has been under French and Malian army control since last week. It was taken on January 11 by Islamist groups.
Malian soldiers walk past the bullet-riddled wall of a house in Konna on Saturday, January 26.
A Malian soldier looks at the wreckage of an Islamist rebel's armed pickup truck in Konna.
Ammunition lies on the ground in Konna.
Malian soldiers escort journalists in Konna.
Malian soldiers patrol a street of Diabaly on January 26.
Ali Ag Noh, right, stands with his family in front of his house on Friday, Janurary 25, in the village of Seribala, Mali, after his cousin and brother-in-law, Aboubakrim Ag Mohamed, and a cattle rancher, Samba Dicko, were shot dead on January 24, allegedly by the Malian Army. According to Noh, Mohamed, a Tuareg, and Dicko were shot in the head in Seribala after being accused by two Malian soldiers of being Islamists or aiding Islamists.
Members of the French army arrive at a base camp in Sevare, Mali, on January 25. French and Malian troops advanced on the key Islamist stronghold of Gao after recapturing the northern town of Hombori as the extremists bombed a strategic bridge to thwart a new front planned in the east.
Malian soldiers ride a motorcycle in a street of Merkala, on Thursday, January 24, 2013 as the first of the 6,000 troops pledged by African nations to support France started heading north.
A Malian soldier armed with a machine gun watches a herd of cattle crossing a bridge over the Niger River on January 24. Mali's military offensive against militants controlling the northern half of the country has gathered pace in the past two weeks, with backing from France and other international allies.
A French army convoy travels near Segou, in south-central Mali, is on its way to Diabaly on January 24.
A woman who fled northern Mali sits at a camp for internally displaced persons in Sevare on Wednesday, January 23. The EU announced 20 million euros of extra humanitarian aid to help Malians fleeing fighting, its second such donation in as many months.
A soldier rides on the back of a scooter outside Diabaly on January 23.
Malians walk past a destroyed truck mounted with a machine gun on Tuesday, January 22. The truck was used by militants and destroyed during airstrikes by the French air force.
Malian soldiers patrol Diabaly on January 22.
Malian soldiers walk past destroyed army barracks as they patrol in Diabaly on January 22, 2013.
A French soldier mans his post on January 22 near the city of Diabaly, Mali.
A French soldier stands guard in front of charred pickups used by Islamist rebels in Diabaly, Mali, on Monday, January 21. The Malian military says it has gained control of the town of Diabaly, a key advance in the battle against Islamist militants in the north.
A Malian soldier walks past a army building that was taken by the jihadists before being destroyed during aerial bombing in Diabaly on January 21.
A Malian soldier searches through debris after aerial bombing in the city of Diabaly on January 21.
A French soldier looks around after arriving in Diabaly on January 21.
French soldiers unload military equipment from an aircraft on January 21.
Malian youths look on as French soldiers drive through Niono on Sunday, January 20.
The French Army conducts operations in Mali on January 20.
A Malian soldier holds a machine gun on top of a jeep on the road back from the town of Mopti, Mali, on Saturday, January 19.
French soldiers of the 5th Combat Helicopter Regiment stand with their equipment in front of a helicopter on January 19 at an airbase near Bamako, Mali. French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on January 19 that France now had 2,000 troops on the ground in Mali as part of a drive against Islamist militants holding the north of the country.
French soldiers of the 5th Combat Helicopter Regiment relax on January 19 at the airbase near Bamako.
A French soldier from the helicopter regiment stands guard at the airbase on January 19.
Malian soldiers check the identity of passengers in a bus coming from Mopti on January 19.
French President Francois Hollande, left, speaks with soldiers who are due to leave for Mali, during a meeting in Tulle, France, on January 19.
Malian soldiers sit in a truck on their way to Niono, Mali, on Friday, January 18.
A Malian child looks out from a bus as Malian army soldiers check vehicles and passengers in the city of Niono on Friday, January 18. Malian troops, with help from France and a U.N.-mandated African force, are fighting al Qaeda-linked Islamist militants.
Malian soldiers man a checkpoint in Niono on January 18.
Togolese troops board a plane to Bamako, Mali, on Thursday, January 17, at the Lome airport in Togo. Troops from West African countries are heading to Mali as part of a U.N.-mandated African force to fight the insurgents.
Helmets belonging to soldiers of the Nigerian army are prepared to be sent to Mali at the Nigerian army peacekeeping center near Kaduna, Nigeria, on January 17.
Malian soldiers stand guard as Mali's President Dioncounda Traore speaks to French troops at an air base in Bamako, Mali, on Wednesday, January 16.
A Malian soldier adjusts his weapon as President Traore speaks to French troops at an air base in Bamako on January 16.
French army soldiers stand on armoured vehicles as they leave Bamako and start their deployment to the north of Mali as part of the Serval operation on Tuesday, January 15.
A French flag is hung on a van in Bamako as French troops start a deployment in the north of Mali on Wednesday.
French troops prepare their Sagaie armoured all terrain vehicles from the Licorne operation based in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, at the 101st military airbase near Bamako on Wednesday.
French troops from the Licorne operation based in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, arrive at the 101st military airbase near Bamako on Wednesday to reinforce the Serval operations, before their deployment in the north of Mali.
Malian police patrol in the capital of Bamako on Sunday, January 13.
Malian police patrol Bamako on Sunday.
A British army Boeing C-17 cargo plane from British Brize Norton base lands Sunday at the Evreux military base in France to take supplies to Bamako.
French soldiers prepare cargo for a British plane en route to Bamako on Sunday at the Evreux military base.
A French armored vehicle rolls onto a British army aircraft to be taken to Bamako on Sunday in Evreux.
Workers adjust chains on a vehicle load in the C-17 in Evreux on Sunday.
Internally displaced Malians from Timbuktu chat at a makeshift cafe in Bamako on Sunday.
French President Francois Hollande, right, speaks with members of Malian associations in France during a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Sunday.
Muslim men protest French military action in Mali outside the French Embassy in central London on Saturday, January 12. About 50 Muslim protesters gathered outside the embassy.
Protesters wave signs outside the French Embassy on Saturday in London.
The interim president of Mali, Dioncounda Traore, speaks after a ministerial Cabinet meeting in Bamako on Friday, January 11. Malian authorities declared a state of emergency throughout the country on Friday as the army launched a counteroffensive against Islamists who were pushing south.
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