Secular Café: Mali: Desert fighting on "Mars"

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Mali: Desert fighting on "Mars" Mar 31st 2013, 19:54 BBC News - Mali conflict: Desert fighting on 'Mars' Quote: French-led forces have recovered the main cities in northern Mali held by Islamist rebels. But in the desert, the fighting goes on, in terrain that appears to be from another planet. ... When we finally landed, we could feel the sharp rocks under our boots but still could not see anything. It felt like we were cut off from the rest of the world. Later the first light of dawn revealed the vastness of a rocky desert, with mountain crests and sandy lines cutting through the landscape like human veins. I don't think I have ever felt that small, that insignificant. ... "We've just left planet Earth and we're now on Mars," a Romanian legionnaire shouted. We were climbing a steep hill, over jagged and slippery rocks, at the time. ... One legionnaire pointed towards his boots - they were so destroyed by the rocks that he was happy to find a pair which had been abandoned by the enemy ... We entered a dry sandy riverbed, which led to a long stretch of flat desert. ... The rocks we lay on felt like burning coals but we were so exhausted, standing up was simply not an option. Mars has much colder and thinner air, of course, but the northern-Mali desert and some other deserts do look a lot like the parts of Mars that various landers and rovers have visited. BBC News - Timbuktu clashes between Mali army and Islamists Quote: The Malian army has been fighting Islamist rebels in the northern city of Timbuktu after a suicide bomber attempted to attack an army checkpoint. The bomber was killed before he could detonate his bomb on Saturday evening. This was followed by militant attempts to infiltrate the city. The army, backed by French air power, then moved against the Islamists.

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