RSS Feeds  Resident: Mali army, rebels exchange fire in Kidal
Sunday - 9/29/2013, 6:30pm  ET  Associated Press  BAMAKO, Mali
(AP) -- Malian soldiers and separatist rebels exchanged gunfire
in the heart of the northern town of Kidal on Sunday, a
dangerous escalation in violence only days after the rebels said
they were suspending their participation in a peace accord
signed with the government. Both sides claimed that the other
attacked first.  It was the first time the two sides have fought
openly in a provincial capital since the announcement last week
made by the National Movement for the Liberation of the Azawad,
which is composed of ethnic Tuareg rebels. There had been
reports of skirmishes in a remote area near the Mauritanian
border recently, but Sunday's gunfire erupted outside a bank
near the town's market.  An Associated Press reporter could hear
the shooting in the background while talking by telephone with
residents in Kidal, which has remained largely under the control
of the separatists even aft