A French military spokesman says French and Malian forces control access to the fabled desert town of Timbuktu. Col. Thierry Burkhard said French paratroopers and helicopters backed ground forces to gain control Timbuktu's airport and roads into the town overnight into Monday and to allow Malian forces to move in on the stronghold of extremists. The advance came as French and African ground troops seized a strategic bridge and the airport in the northern city of Gao, according to a report of the Associated Press.
