French and Malian troops seized control of the fabled northern Mali city of Timbuktu on Monday, which has been a bastion of radical Islamists occupying the north, military and government sources said.

"The Malian army and the French army are in complete control of the town of Timbuktu. Everything is under control," a colonel in the Malian army said on condition of anonymity. This was confirmed by the mayor of Timbuktu.