day, Ansar Dine announced that it was in control of all the cities of northern Mali. On 19 January 2013, it was reported that Gao journalist Kader Toure was killed after being suspected of working for foreign news services. In retaliation, the local youth are reported to have lynched Islamic police commissioner Aliou Toure who was recruited by MUWA, Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa, who took control of the town in June 2012. In January 2013 French warplanes bombed parts of Gao, including the airport, in an attempt to drive out fighters from the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa. Gao was captured by French and Malian forces on 26 January 2013, as the Islamists were driven out from the city. On 17 March 2015, a United Nations AH-64 helicopter crashed during an exercise near the town, killing both pilots. The AH-64 came from the Dutch Air Force's Defense Helicopter Command. On 18 January 2017, a suicide bomber from Al-Mourabitoun drove a vehicle filled with explosives into a military camp near Gao, killing 77 people and injuring at least 115 (see 2017 Gao bombing). The incident was the deadliest terrorist attack in Malian history. Culture The population of Gao mostly speak Koyraboro Senni but includes many ethnicities, including the Bozo (traditionally nomadic river dwellers), Fulfulde/Fulani cattle keepers, and Tuareg nomads, Arabs as well as Bambara peoples from western Mali. The seventh Festival des arts et cultures songhay was celebrated in February 2007 at Gao, reflecting the city's importance as a Songhay cultural capital. Sites Attractions in Gao include the original fourteenth century , the Askia Tomb (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) built in 1495 and incorporating another mosque, a museum devoted to the Sahel, markets including a night market, and La Dune Rose, a sand dune named after its appearance at dawn and nightfall. Education Gao School (primary school). Notable residents Mokhtar Belmokhtar (suspected) Askia Muhammad I International relations Gao is twinned with: Thionville, France Berkeley, California, United States See also List of cities in Mali Koïma References Sources . . . . First published in 1999 as . . . Also available from Aluka but requires subscription. . . . . First published in 1981 by Cambridge University Press, . . Link is to a scan on the Persée database that omits some photographs of the epigraphs. . A reprint of (1949), Al-Andalus XIV: