French Foreign Legionnaires Check Their Equipment In Niono, Mali

French foreign legionnaires check their equipment in Niono, some 400 kilometers (249 miles) north of the capital Bamako Sunday Jan. 20, 2013. The Malian military announced late Saturday that the government was now controlling Diabaly, marking an important accomplishment for the French-led offensive to oust the extremists from northern and central Mali.

French foreign legionnaires drive through the market in Niono, some 400 kilometers (249 miles) north of the capital Bamako, Sunday, Jan. 20, 2013. <AP Photo/Jerome Delay>

A man looks at a burned armed vehicle used by radical Islamists in Diabaly, some 460 kilometers (286 miles) north of the capital Bamako, Sunday Jan. 20, 2013. <AP Photo>

A French soldier waits for a French Puma transport helicopter to land on the soccer stadium to test the field in the center of Niono, some 400 kms (300 miles) North of the capital Bamako Sunday Jan. 20, 2013. French troops encircled a key Malian town on Friday, trying to stop radical Islamists from striking against communities closer to the capital and cutting off their supply line, a French official said. The move around Diabaly came as French and Malian authorities said that the city whose capture prompted the French military intervention in the first place was no longer in the hands of the extremists. <AP Photo/Jerome Delay>