French-led troops in Mali have entered the historic city of Timbuktu encountering little resistance, French and Malian military sources.

But there are reports of thousands of ancient manuscripts being destroyed, with video footage of the library showing charred books and empty boxes.

French President Francois Hollande declared that the joint forces were “winning this battle”.

They have been pushing north in their offensive against Islamist rebels.

They seized Gao, north Mali’s biggest city, on Saturday.

Islamists seized the north of the country last year, but have been losing ground since French forces launched an operation earlier this month.

Most militants appear to have moved out to desert hideouts, says the BBC’s Thomas Fessy in the capital, Bamako.

The advance comes as African Union (AU) leaders are meeting to discuss sending more troops to Mali.

Library ’emptied’

On Monday afternoon, a French military spokesman said troops had moved into Timbuktu after blocking roads surrounding it.

Meanwhile, a Malian army colonel told the AFP news agency: “The Malian army and the French army are in complete control of the city of Timbuktu.”

But reports have emerged that militants had destroyed a library of ancient manuscripts, some dating back to the 13th Century.

Sky News correspondent Alex Crawford, who is with the joint forces, showed some charred documents and piles of empty boxes at the library said to have contained the manuscripts, and said vaults beneath the building had been emptied.

The library, the Ahmed Baba institute, held about 30,000 manuscripts, and includes documents about centuries of life in the city, Mali and neighbouring countries.

‘Strategy of evasion’

French army spokesman Col Thierry Burkhard had told the BBC earlier that “substantial airpower” had been used to support about 1,000 French and 200 Malian forces in their offensive against militants in Timbuktu.

He said French forces had taken access points to the city during the night.

Once Timbuktu is secured, the French-led troops are expected to focus on the last rebel stronghold, Kidal, near the border with Algeria.

Kidal – home of the head of Ansar Dine, the main militant group in northern Mali – was bombed on Sunday by French forces, Malian officials say.

Once Kidal is taken, the first phase of the French operation will be over, our correspondent says.

The second phase will be to track down the militants to their desert hideouts, which could prove a much more difficult task, he adds.

Mr Fabius warned that the militants had adopted a “strategy of evasion and some of them could return in the north”.

President Hollande later outlined plans for the operation, saying African troops would take over once French forces had retaken key towns.

The French would then return to their bases, and from then on their sole task would be to support and train Malian forces, he added.

Col Burkhard said a contingent of African troops was expected to make their way soon to Mali from Niger’s capital, Niamey.

Some troops from Chad have already entered Gao, where thousands of people went onto the streets to celebrate the ousting of the Islamist forces.

French officials said they now had 2,900 troops in Mali, backed by 2,700 African forces in Mali and neighbouring Chad.

The African contingent is expected to be bolstered to 7,900, including 2,200 troops promised by Chad, AP news agency quotes a Nigerian military official, Col Shehu Usman Abdulkadir, as saying.

At an AU meeting in Ethiopia on Sunday, which is continuing on Monday, outgoing AU chairman and Benin’s President Thomas Boni Yayi criticised the slow response of African states to the Malian conflict.

France’s intervention was something “we should have done a long time ago to defend a member country”, he said.

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