In a separate incident, a Malian army vehicle drove over a land mine during a patrol Saturday around 110 kilometers (70 miles) from the northern Malian town of Ansongo, killing two people on board, said the Malian military.
When French troops moved into Kidal, a distant and largely Tuareg town this week, they took the town without Malian troops.
French and Malian forces retook the key town of Konna from militants Friday, a French source said.
On Monday, Malian forces recaptured the central town of Diabaly, as well as the town of Douentza, to the northeast, from al Qaeda-linked rebels.
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.
French and Malian troops also staged joint patrols for the first time, in the town of Douentza west of Gao, the AFP news agency said, quoting Malian sources.
The town has since been recaptured by Malian troops with French aerial support.
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Kidal remains the only major town not under the control of French and Malian forces.
Malian security forces have erected a series of checkpoints around the town that amount to internal border crossings.
The central town of Konna has since been recaptured, the Malian government says.
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Diabaly's mayor told the BBC that Malian and French forces had been patrolling the outskirts of the town, which is believed to be the base for the largest concentration of Islamists in central Mali.
Journalists are only allowed to enter after a town after it has been freed and its security guaranteed by French and Malian troops.
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