French-Led Forces Put Down Mali Counter-Offensive

A counter-offensive by Islamists in Mali, which saw Al Qaeda-linked forces attempt to retake the northern city of Gao this weekend, has been put down by French and Malian troops. The Associated Press grimly describes the scene around Gao's police headquarters, where "body parts lay strewn." The conflict is increasingly becoming a race between Islamists, who seek to turn the conflict into an asymmetrical insurgency that will bog down French-led forces, and the French, who seek to extract themselves from Mali before it turns into an asymmetrical insurgency that will bog them down.