Mali crisis: timeline - Telegraph Malian government troops launch an offensive against Islamist rebels. French President Francois Hollande confirms French troops are actively supporting the offensive by Malian forces. The 15-nation west African bloc ECOWAS gives its go-ahead for the immediate deployment of troops. January 12: Mali's army retakes control of Konna after one of the worst clashes with Islamists since the start of the crisis. French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian announces the death of a French helicopter pilot in the battle. The clashes kill around 100 Islamists, according to the Malian military. January 13: France keeps up airstrikes on Mali, targeting Islamist bases in the northern regions of Gao and Kidal. Four French Rafale fighter jets bomb targets near the town of Gao, which has been controlled by Al-Qaeda offshoot the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), destroying rebel training camps and logistical bases, according to the French defence ministry. More than 60 jihadists are killed in Gao and its outskirts, according to residents. French President Francois Hollande says the intervention has stopped a southward rebel advance seen as threatening the capital Bamako, but stresses France's mission is not over. Benin and Togo follow Niger, Burkina Faso and Senegal in promising troops. Britain says it will send aircraft for logistical support. Algeria has authorised French warplanes to use its airspace for bombing raids on Mali, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius says. January 14: Islamists seize the town of Diabaly in government-held territory, 250 miles north of the capital. They vow to "strike at the heart of France." French warplanes pound Islamist positions in the town of Douentza in central Mali. Rebels abandon key northern bases under pressure from French airstrikes. Residents in the towns of Gao, Douentza and Timbuktu report all Islamists have fled, though an Ansar Dine spokesman calls it a "tactical retreat." Ethnic-Tuareg separatists say they are ready to support the French military intervention by taking on Islamist rebels on the ground. NATO says it supports French efforts but that the alliance has received no request for assistance. Nigerian troops will arrive in Mali "before next week," announces President Goodluck Jonathan.