GAO, Mali (AP) - Two men with explosives were arrested trying to enter the city of Gao on Saturday, the Malian military said, a day after a suicide bomber blew himself up in an attack that has fueled fears of a militant insurgency in northern Mali.
The two suspected jihadists were in Malian military custody after being arrested at 7 a.m. (3 p.m Singapore time) on a road that leads into northern Mali's largest city, said military spokesman Modibo Traore.
"The men were stopped at a checkpoint on the road from Bourem," Mr Traore said of a village that is northwest of Gao.
While Friday's attack killed only the bomber, it has raised concerns about the future strategy of the militants, who initially appeared to put up little resistance to the French and Malian military advance.
Fears of suicide bombing attacks have been high since the discovery of industrial-strength explosives in Gao earlier this week.
The radical fighters seized control of northern Mali in April 2012 after a military coup in the distant capital of Bamako.
France intervened in its former colony on Jan. 11 after the Islamic militants began pushing south, raising alarm that they were inching closer toward the capital.
Residents said Friday that the French forces had retaken the far northern town of Tessalit along the border with Algeria.
France has said that it wants to hand over responsibility to the Malian military and other African nations who have contributed troops.
It also has raised with the United Nations Security Council the possibility of establishing a U.N. peacekeeping operation in Mali.
Mali's military, though, has shown growing signs of strain. On Friday, soldiers from a unit allied with the leader of last year's military coup stormed the camp of the presidential guard.
Two people were killed and 13 others were wounded, according to a statement from the Malian government.
Malian President Dioncounda Traore called the violence a major disappointment to the Malian people "at a time when the main concern of each and every Malian should be the operations we are in the middle of carrying out in the north."