The Government has deployed soldiers and special police units along the border.

At the peak of the operation, the Army deployed some 21,000 soldiers.

He deployed soldiers and police to the area to attempt to impose peace.

The Government also deployed uniformed soldiers to the homes of three senior party members.

"At the end of this reform, we will have the ability to deploy 50,000 to 60,000 soldiers abroad, with everything they need," he said.

In Brussels, the alliance's leaders decided to wait until next week before making a decision on whether to deploy all 3,500 soldiers.

The Malian army immediately deployed 100 soldiers to the town, which were reinforced later.

The most immediate way forward, military commanders here agree, is training and deploying more Iraqi soldiers.

He said the army initially responded by deploying more soldiers to secure the building, but the troops soon left.

"How do you deploy conventional soldiers to stop that?"