** FILE ** Radical Islamist terrorists stand guard during a hostage handover in the desert outside Timbuktu, Mali, April 24, 2012. (Associated Press)
** FILE ** Radical Islamist terrorists stand guard during a hostage handover in the desert outside Timbuktu, Mali, April 24, 2012. (Associated Press)
Militants from the Islamist terrorist group Ansar Dine stand guard during a hostage handover in the desert outside Timbuktu, Mali, in April. (Associated Press)
Militants from the Islamist terrorist group Ansar Dine stand guard during a hostage handover in the desert outside Timbuktu, Mali, in April. (Associated Press)
Militants from the Islamist terrorist group Ansar Dine stand guard during a hostage handover in the desert outside Timbuktu, Mali, in April. (Associated Press)
Fighters from Islamist group Ansar Dine stand guard during a hostage handover in the desert outside Timbuktu, Mali. Allied Islamist groups Ansar Dine and the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa, or MUJAO, are applying strict Shariah justice across the northern half of Mali, which fell to the al-Qaeda-linked rebels. (Associated Press)
Fighters from Islamist group Ansar Dine stand guard during a hostage handover in the desert outside Timbuktu, Mali. Allied Islamist groups Ansar Dine and the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa, or MUJAO, are applying strict Shariah justice across the northern half of Mali, which fell to the al-Qaeda-linked rebels. (Associated Press)
** FILE ** Malian soldiers from the 512th Motorized Infantry Company complete their training by U.S. Special Forces (top) in the desert near Timbuktu in Mali in March 2004 as part of the U.S. Pan-Sahel Initiative to secure the Sahel region from being used by terrorists. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
