French, Malian forces regain control of Gao

SEVARE, Mali (AP) — French and Malian forces took control of the radical Islamist stronghold of Gao on Saturday, marking a major advance in their bid to oust al-Qaida-linked extremists who have controlled northern Mali for months.

The capture of the town comes just two weeks after Francelaunched its military offensive in support of the shaky central government of the former French colony. It is unclear what kind of resistance French and Malian troops will face in the coming days, though French officials were already praising recent battlefield successes.

Swooping in by land and by air and under the cover of darkness, French and Malian forces came under fire Saturday morning and continued to face sporadic "acts of harassment" through the day, Col. Thierry Burkhard, a French military spokesman in Paris, said. He had no immediate estimate on casualties.

Just before evening, the French Defense Ministry issued a statement saying the whole town of Gao had been liberated, and government control was already being established — notably with the return Saturday of the town's mayor, Sadou Diallo, who had fled to Mali's capital Bamako far to the west.

French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in a statement earlier Saturday that French-led forces had captured the key bridge and airport in Gao, and jihadist fighters whom they encountered "saw their means of transport and their logistics sites destroyed."

The Islamists first seized control of Gao and two other northern provincial capitals — Timbuktu and Kidal — in April last year during the chaotic aftermath of a coup in the distant capital.

Before the joint air-land operations, French forces carried out "an important phase of air strikes" around Gao and Timbuktu, with nearly 30 bombs fired from fighter jets over the previous two days, France's military said in yet another statement.

More French and African troops and equipment were being sent to Gao, the military said. Troops from Chad and Niger "should arrive in the Gao area very soon," it added.

Elsewhere in Mali, French and Malian troops supported by a tactical air group carried out a night-time "reconnaissance offensive" toward Lere, "where several terrorist elements were noticed a few days earlier," the military said.

Two Rafale jets have been added to the campaign, bringing France's total deployment to 12 fighter jets as part of the code-named Operation Serval in Mali, the military said.

Nouhoum Maiga, a deputy mayor in Gao, confirmed Saturday that the French had come by land and air late Friday.

Gao has been under the control of the al-Qaida-linked Movement for Oneness and Jihad, or MUJAO, for months.

On Friday in a show of might, the Islamist radicals destroyed a bridge near the Niger border with explosives, showing that the extremists still remain a nimble and daunting enemy.

Since France began its military operation Jan. 11 with a barrage of airstrikes followed by a land assault, the Islamists have retreated from three cities in central Mali: Diabaly, Konna and Douentza.

The Islamists, though, had maintained control of the majority of the territory in Mali's north, most importantly the cities of Gao, Kidal and Timbuktu.

The announcement that Gao's airport had been taken marked the first official confirmation that French and Malian forces had reached the city. Previously the closest they had been was Hombori, a town some 155 miles (250 kilometers) away.

The French currently have about 2,500 forces in the country and have said that they will stay as long as needed in Mali, a former French colony. However, they have called for African nations to take the lead in fortifying the Malian army's efforts.

There are currently some 1,750 troops from neighboring African countries, including Togo, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Benin, Senegal, Niger and Chad.

The French-led mission began after the Islamists surged the farthest south yet and took the town of Konna. On Saturday, the Malian military allowed international journalists to enter the town for the first time since the conflict began.

Residents described the civilian casualties that took place during the French air strikes, including one that left three women and a child dead. Officials have said at least 11 Malians died in the military effort to retake the town.

Souleymane Maiga said the women were preparing food in the courtyard underneath a mango tree when he heard the helicopters overhead.

"I ran and hid between the walls of our courtyard," he said. "After it was over, I went to the house and I opened the door and that's when I saw that they were dead."

Only a toddler survived, Maiga said.

"They were one on top of the other. The baby was crying," he said. "I tried to feel for a pulse to see if there was any life, but I found that they were all dead."

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Iran official: Attack on Syria is attack on Iran

BEIRUT (AP) — Issuing Tehran's strongest warning to date, a top Iranian official said Saturday that any attack on Syria would be deemed an attack on Iran, a sign that it will do all it can to protect embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Ali Akbar Velayati, an aide to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, made his comments as Syrian troops conducted offensive air raids against rebels and discovered a trio of tunnels they were using to smuggle weapons in their fight to topple Assad.

The world has been grappling over how to deal with Syria ever since an uprising against Assad's regime erupted nearly two years ago. But so far, there has been no international intervention on the ground where more than 60,000 people have been killed, according to the U.N.

Iran is Syria's strongest ally in the Middle East, and has provided Assad's government with military and political backing for years. In September, the top commander of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari, said the elite unit had high-level advisers in Syria. Iran also is believed to be sending weapons and money to Syria as it endures its worst crisis in decades.

"Syria plays a very key role in supporting or, God forbid, destabilizing the resistance front," Velayati was quoted by Iran's semiofficial Mehr news agency as saying. "For this same reason, (an) attack on Syria is considered (an) attack on Iran and Iran's allies."

By backing the rebels trying to oust the Syrian leader, the U.S. and Arab states in the Gulf attacked the "golden ring of resistance," Valayati said, referring to the militant groups, Hamas and Hezbollah, and Iran and Syria, which are all anti-American.

Iran also is at odds with the international community over its nuclear program, although Iran insists it is using the program solely for peaceful purposes, not nuclear weapons.

A former Iranian diplomat who defected to the West in 2010 told Israel's channel 2 TV in an interview broadcast on Friday that if Tehran acquired nuclear weapons, it would use them against Israel.

Mohammad Reza Heydari, who has political asylum in Norway, claimed that Venezuela was flying uranium and various components for nuclear weapons to Tehran. Venezuela backs Iran in arguing the nuclear program is purely for peaceful purposes.

Since the unrest in Syria began in March 2011, opposition forces have taken control of wide swathes of territory, mostly in the north near Syria's border with Turkey.

NATO said Saturday that the first of six Patriot missile batteries being deployed to Turkey to shoot down missiles that might come from the Syrian side of the border was now operational. The battery, meant to protect the Turkish city of Adana, was provided by the Netherlands.

The United States, Germany and the Netherlands are providing two batteries each of the latest version of the U.S.-made Patriots. The other five Patriot batteries are expected to be operational in the coming days in Adana, Kahramanmaras and Gaziantep.

NATO says the Patriots would be used for defensive purposes only. Syria has not fired any of its surface-to-surface missiles at Turkey during the civil war, but the Assad regime has described the NATO deployment as a provocation.

The alliance also deployed Patriot batteries to Turkey during the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq 10 years ago. They were never used and were withdrawn a few months later.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, interviewed on Turkish television late Friday, said the Syrian opposition now controls some 70 percent of Syria.

"If you ask me if Bashar is able endure much longer, I say, Bashar is walking, propped up from behind," said Erdogan, who was a close ally of Assad's until the crisis began. "He is losing the support of the Syrian people every day."

"At the moment Damascus is under siege. Aleppo is to a great degree already under the hands of the opposition. In other words, I can say that some 70 percent of the country is under the control of the opposition," Erdogan said.

In the Turkish capital, Istanbul, members of the Syrian opposition gathered Saturday to kick-off a conference aimed at establishing a transitional justice system in Syria after the fall of Assad's regime. The two-day meeting was organized by the U.S.-based Syrian Center for Political and Strategic Studies.

In fighting on Saturday, Syrian forces clashing with rebels uncovered tunnels they were using to smuggle weapons and move around Daraya, a strategic suburb of the capital, Damascus, the state-run news agency said.

Syrian troops have been trying to capture Daraya for weeks, but have faced strong resistance from hundreds of rebels who have used Damascus suburbs to stage attacks on nearby government facilities.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and another activist group, the Local Coordination Committees, also reported shelling and air raids in other Damascus suburbs, including Shebaa and Aqraba near the international airport.

The LCC also said rebels fired several rockets from Daraya toward Assad's People's Palace on Qasioun Mountain, overlooking the capital. Syrian officials have previously denied claims by rebels that rockets have targeted the palace — one of three mansions Assad uses in the capital.

The activist groups also reported heavy clashes in the central city of Homs and the nearby town of Qusair, which is close to the border with Lebanon, and near a prison in the northwestern city of Idlib.

In the north, the Observatory reported two air raids — one in Al-Bab. which killed at least four people, and another in Manbij, which killed at least 12 people, including four children and women.

Doctors Without Borders, an international medical team, said a growing number of attacks in the northern province of Aleppo are likely to undermine its ability to provide medical care.

"Besides the war-wounded and the direct victims of violence, the conflict is affecting the most vulnerable, especially people with chronic diseases, women and children," said Miriam Alía, medical coordinator for the organization.

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Thousands of Portuguese teachers protest big cut

Demonstrators march down Lisbon's main Liberdade avenue during a protest by Portuguese teachers national front union, FENPROF, against the austerity economic measures taken by the government, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Thousands of teachers from around Portugal are marching in downtown Lisbon to protest proposed spending cuts they say will slash €1 billion ($1.3 billion) from theeducation budget.

Unions say the government plans to privatize many public schoolsand cut around 50,000 sector jobs.

Union spokesman Mario Nogueira says the plans revealed in a recent document from the International Monetary Fund would "mean the end of a free and inclusive public school system."

Portugal, which is headed for a third straight year of recession, needed a €78 billion lifeline in May 2011 to avert bankruptcy and has a jobless rate of 16.3 percent. Austerity measures have triggered many strikes and protests.

It was the third country that uses the euro to require an international bailout to deal with its debts.

Hospital: 61 killed in Venezuela prison riot

Relatives of inmates react outside the Uribana prison in Barquisimeto, Venezuela, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. A bloody riot erupted at the Uribana prison in the central Venezuelan city of Barquisimeto Friday when National Guard troops clashed with inmates. Venezuelan media reported that dozens were killed. It was the latest in a series of bloody riots in the country's prisons.(AP Photo/Roger Varela/El Informador)

An injured prison inmate is carried into the hospital in Barquisimeto, Venezuela, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. A bloody riot erupted at the Uribana prison in the central Venezuelan city of Barquisimeto Friday when National Guard troops clashed with inmates. Venezuelan media reported that dozens were killed. It was the latest in a series of bloody riots in the country's prisons.(AP Photo/Alexander Sanchez/El Informador)

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — The death toll has risen to 61 following fierce gunbattles between inmates and National Guardtroops at a Venezuelan prison, a hospital director said Saturday. About 120 more people were wounded in one of the deadliest prison riots in the nation's history.

Penitentiary Service Minister Iris Varela said Saturday that officials had begun evacuating inmates from the Uribana prison in Barquisimeto and transferring them to other facilities, but she did not provide an official death toll.

However, Dr. Ruy Medina, director of Central Hospital in the city of Barquisimeto, told The Associated Press that the number of dead had risen to 61. He initially told Venezuelan news media after the Friday uprising that about 50 were killed.

Medina said that nearly all of the injuries were from gunshots and that 45 of the estimated 120 people who were wounded remained hospitalized. Some underwent surgeries for their wounds.

Relatives wept outside the prison during the violence, and cried at the morgue Saturday as they waited to identify bodies.

The riot was the latest in a series of deadly clashes in Venezuela's overcrowded and often anarchical prisons, where inmates typically obtain weapons and drugs with the help of corrupt guards. Critics called it proof that the government is failing to get a grip on a worsening national crisis in its penitentiaries.

The gunbattles seized attention amid uncertainty about President Hugo Chavez's future, while he remained in Cuba recovering and undergoing treatment more than six weeks after his latest cancer surgery.

Government officials pledged a thorough investigation, while some critics said there should have been ways for the authorities to prevent such bloodshed.

Nayibe Mendez, the mother of a 22-year-old inmate in the prison, told the AP that she was able to talk by phone with her son and he was uninjured.

"What they say is that there were shots all over the place, and they don't know where they came from," Mendez said. "It was a massacre. A full list hasn't come out of the dead and injured."

Mendez spoke by telephone from the morgue, where she said she went out of solidarity. "We're all hurt. No matter what, a prisoner has a right to live," she said, demanding that the authorities fully investigate what happened.

Varela said during a news conference that officials decided to evacuate all inmates from the prison in order to "close this chapter of violence." She said victims had wounds from guns, explosives and knives or other sharp weapons made by the inmates.

Varela did not provide any estimates of the numbers killed and injured, and instead criticized Venezuelan news media at length for their coverage of the violence.

Vice President Nicolas Maduro called the bloodshed tragic and said Prosecutor General Luisa Ortega Diaz and National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello would lead the investigation.

"The prisons have to be governed by law," Maduro said on television early Saturday.

The riot was the deadliest in nearly two decades. In 1994, more than 100 inmates died in the country's bloodiest prison on record, at a prison in the western city of Maracaibo. In 1994, about 60 inmates were killed in a riot in a Caracas prison.

Varela said that the violence erupted on Friday when groups of inmates attacked National Guard troops who were attempting to carry out an inspection. She said the government decided to send troops to search the prison after reports of clashes between groups of inmates during the past two days.

Douglas Briceno said his nephew, an inmate, was wounded in the foot during the shooting. "I think he's out of danger," Briceno told the AP. "I haven't been able to communicate with him because they don't let me pass to the prison."

Opposition leader Henrique Capriles condemned the government's handling of what he and many other critics call a growing crisis in the country's prisons.

"Our country's prisons are an example of the incapacity of this government and its leaders. They never solved the problem," Capriles said on his Twitter account. "How many more deaths do there have to be in the prisons for the government to acknowledge its failure and make changes?"

Venezuela currently has 33 prisons built to hold about 12,000 inmates, but officials have said the prisons' population is about 47,000.

The Venezuelan Prisons Observatory, a watchdog group, said in a statement that in 2007 the Costa Rica-based Inter-American Court of Human Rights had ordered the government to seize weapons that inmates had in their possession at Uribana prison and to take measures to avoid deaths in the facility. The group called for the government to release a list with the names of the dead and wounded in Friday's violence, as well as details about weapons seized in the search.

"No one doubts that inspections are necessary procedures to guarantee prison conditions in line with international standards, but they can't be carried out with the warlike attitude as (authorities) have done it," said Humberto Prado, an activist who leads the prison watchdog group.

"It's clear that the inspection wasn't coordinated or put into practice as it should have been. It was evidently a disproportionate use of force," Prado told the AP.

His group says Uribana prison was built to hold up to 850 inmates but currently has about 1,400.

Similar though less deadly clashes have flared repeatedly during the past few years.

In April and May, a prison uprising in La Planta prison in Caracas blocked authorities from going inside for nearly three weeks. One prisoner was killed and five people were wounded, including two National Guard soldiers and three inmates.

Two months later, another riot broke out at a penitentiary in Merida, and the Venezuelan Prisons Observatory reported 30 killed.

In August, 25 people were killed and 43 wounded when two groups of inmates fought a gunbattle inside Yare I prison south of Caracas.

Chavez's government previously pledged improvements to the prison system, but opponents and activists say the government hasn't made progress.

Varela, the prisons minister, said news media including Globovision and a local newspaper had run reports on the inspection by authorities, which she said had in fact been a "trigger for the violence."

Prado denied that, saying: "The problem isn't the work of the media. The problem is that the government hasn't disarmed the prison population."

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Associated Press writers Vivian Sequera and Camilo Hernandez in Bogota, Colombia, and Fabiola Sanchez in Caracas contributed to this report.