700 EU-Trained Soldiers Head for Northern Mali

Around 700 EU-trained soldiers have been deployed to war-torn Mali's desert north, a military source told Agence France Presse on Tuesday.

The contingent -- the first from the European Union Training Mission in Mali -- left the capital Bamako on Monday for the northeastern city of Gao, a Malian defense ministry official said on condition of anonymity.

The French army's chief of staff, General Edouard Guillaud, was also in northern Mali Tuesday "for a field trip", said a Malian military source.

The European Union began a top-to-toe overhaul of Mali's weak, ragtag army in April to help soldiers in the west African nation take over from foreign troops defending it against Islamist extremists.

France, which sent 4,500 troops to its former colony in January to block an advance on the capital from the north by al-Qaida-linked fighters, is the lead country in the mission.