Mali leader urges ceasefire, orders three days of mourning

[World News]

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Mali's president called for a ceasefire in the restive north of the country and ordered three days of mourning as Tuareg separatists claimed they captured more than a key desert bastion after slaying several soldiers. Tuareg militants killed the soldiers during clashes in the rebel-held town of Kidal on Wednesday, a United Nations source told AFP, as a rebel leader said three armed groups had also taken other northern towns. After clashes during the day "the situation is calm tonight in Kidal", which is under the control of rebel groups, National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) spokesman Moussa Ag Assarid told AFP from Kidal. Mohamed Ag Rhissa, one of the MNLA leaders, told AFP by telephone his group had taken "control of the whole town of Kidal" and that "we have prisoners".

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