video transcript

(ROUGH CUT ONLY - NO REPORTER NARRATION) A British RAF C17 cargo plane was expected to take off from France's Evreux military airport on Monday (January 14) to help the French military operation in Mali. The plane will carry armoured vehicle, medical facilities and other equipment. Another British aircraft is due to arrive in Evreux on Monday afternoon to head to Mali later in the day, a British embassy official said. French fighter jets pounded Islamist rebel strongholds deep in northern Mali on Sunday as Paris poured more troops into the capital Bamako, awaiting a West African force to dislodge al Qaeda-linked insurgents from the country's north. The attacks on Islamist positions near the ancient desert trading town of Timbuktu and Gao, the largest city in the north, marked a decisive intensification on the third day of the French mission, striking at the heart of the vast area seized by rebels in April.