Islamists fleeing Timbuktu torched a major historical library before French and Malian troops arrived. The home of Ansar Dine chief Iyad Ag Ghaly in Kidal was destroyed by French airstrikes. The Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa offered to negotiate the release of French hostage Gilberto Rodriguez Leal. The Islamist militants have “adopted a strategy of evasion” and have melted away without offering resistance.
