He confirmed that the French air force was involved in the operation, but gave no details.
The Malian army, backed by French air power, then moved against the militants.
When asked whether there had been French air strikes, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius confirmed that there had been "an aerial operation".
But the revolution in military robotics does have an Achilles heel, notes Emmanuel Goffi of the French air-force academy in Salon-de-Provence.
The army, backed by French air power, then moved against the Islamists.
In 1995, a French air force cargo plane landed at the Bosnian city of Mostar, becoming the first aircraft to do so since 1992.
Diabaly, 195 kilometers (120 miles) west of Mopti, was retaken Monday after Islamist fighters who had seized it a week earlier fled amid French air strikes.
Ibrahima Dahirou, the head of Mali's armed forces, told Radio France Internationale in an interview published on its Web site Tuesday that French air strikes have made all the difference so far.
French and Malian forces also took the town of Diabaly, which lies 195 kilometers (120 miles) west of Mopti, on Monday after Islamist fighters who had seized it a week earlier fled amid French air strikes.
India can arm two types of aircraft to do this: the MiG-27 Flogger, which was made by the old Soviet Union, and the Jaguar, which was used in a nuclear role by the British and French air forces.
As I write, the French air force is bombing militant positions and arms dumps on the northern edge of the Tegharghar, around the village of Tessalit, a beautiful little oasis located next to a river that floods every June and July, if the rains are good.
It was flown from a French military air base after Arafat, 75, died Thursday in a Paris hospital after falling into a deep coma that followed a brain hemorrhage.
When the French launched their first air strikes in January, jihadist groups warned that French interests in the region would come under attack as a result.
French President Francois Hollande announced that French ground and air forces were in the country to aid government forces.
The French president announced Friday evening that French ground and air forces were in Mali to aid government forces, in response to a plea for help.
The BBC's Mark Doyle in Mali says a big international troop build-up is continuing ahead of a probable French-led air and ground offensive on Gao and other desert cities.
French officers launched an air and ground search and said the soldier's disappearance had been "a mystery".
Last week French forces carried out air strikes on Diabaly, which had fallen to the Islamists on 14 January.
It was confirmed that French jets had made air strikes as Islamist rebels were forced out of the town of Konna.
BBC: French soldier killed and hostage feared dead in Somalia
But in a growing trend of monitoring the air around you like their French compatriot, Netamo, these scales can monitor the air quality around you via temperature and carbon dioxide (CO2) measurements.
FORBES: French Connected Device Company Brings Smart Scales to CES
I've been walking along the promenade and enjoying the smell of Blackpool - cotton candy, French fries and salty sea air.
Algeria has been allowing French aircraft to use its air space.
Less than fondly, he recalls a late-1980s visit to a French pigment factory where the air was thick with powder laced (he suspects) with toxic heavy metals.
Thierry Burkhard, a French military spokesman, said selective air strikes were continuing against suspected rebel targets.
Mais oui, say the bosses at Air France, the French answer to Lufthansa, but there could be new entrants other than easyJet.
On the French side, passengers avoiding the air route via Charles de Gaulle airport are now planted straight into the old vault-like Gare du Nord.
ECONOMIST: For some, France is still on the other side of the earth
Coastguard rescue helicopters from Portland and La Hague, lifeboats from Weymouth and Alderney, Channel Islands Air Search and the French Coastguard were all involved in the search.
The news release said they chose to carry out the operation in Algeria because the country's president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, had allowed French military forces to cross Algerian air space in attacking Mali.
ROME, Italy (Reuters) -- The French government would welcome Alitalia in a merger with Air France and KLM and is confident the Italian airline can reverse its fortunes, says the French transport secretary.
The French state's stake in the Air France-KLM merger is set to be 44 percent.
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