Local militia capture suspected Islamic extremists

A self styled militia group went house to house through the city of Gao in Northern Mali on Tuesday rounding up men they suspected of being Islamist rebels before handing them over to the Malian military.

French and Malian forces retook Gao over the weekend, the most significant victory in their campaign to over run Islamic fighters.

A small military presence remains in the city and the security vacuum appears to have been filled by militia groups.

The Patrollers of Gao is one such group.

Youth from its ranks toured the city in trucks gaining information on the whereabouts of senior figures of the al-Qaida linked militant groups that had established an oppressive Sharia state here ten months ago.

Three religious leaders from the Movement for Unity and Oneness of the Jihad (MUJAO) were found hiding in a house in the market area on Tuesday and the army was called to take the men into custody.

"They (the detained men) are from MUJAO, they are the Islamists who have gone into their homes to hide," said Abdul Karim Samba, a spokesman for Patrollers of Gao.

Radical Islamists first seized control of the main towns in northern Mali nine months ago, taking advantage of a power vacuum after a military coup in the distant capital of Bamako.

France launched its intervention on 11 January - a day after Islamic extremists captured the central town of Konna, threatening a possible advance toward Bamako.

It said its forces would stay as long as necessary in Mali, but urged other African countries to join the military operation.