The French government said its deployment of forces had peaked at around 4,000 troops and president Francois Hollande had ordered reductions to start next month.
French officials conceded on Wednesday that the country was facing a "real war" in Mali, as they called for a United Nations peacekeeping force to be in place by April. Laurent Fabius, the foreign minister, said France wanted the UN to take over from the African-led military mission. "From the moment that security is assured, we can envisage without changing the structures that it can be placed under the framework of UN peacekeeping operations," he said.
French defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said troops hunting terrorists were in clashes in northern Mali. French forces and troops from Chad took the town of Kidal, the last large town in the area still in the hands of Islamists. Although Le Drian said "hundreds" of enemy fighters had been killed, Islamist fighters have fled into the desert and mountain strongholds where French troops will be vulnerable to ambush.
"It's a real war.... when we go outside the centre of cities that have been taken, we meet residual jihadists," he said.
Gao, the largest city in the north, has not been declared secure and the threat from the Adrar des Ifoghas mountains is unknown. "There were clashes yesterday around Gao," Le Drian said.
Extremists were reported to be armed with light artillery pieces, including rocket-propelled grenades. The Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa, one of the main Islamist groups, said its attacks on military positions in Gao would continue.
Le Drian said hundreds of militants had been killed in the month-long operation. The French government said its deployment of forces had peaked at around 4,000 troops and president Francois Hollande had ordered reductions to start next month.
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