A military source based at Mali's northern town of Gao said on Tuesday evening that the town of Kidal has not yet been taken by the rebel fighters from the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA).

"The town of Kidal and its environs have not been taken. I have seen our officers on the ground," the same source said.

Elsewhere, some civilian sources had indicated that the town of Kidal had been attacked and occupied by the rebels.

"Some of our soldiers left the battlefield and when the MNLA people came, they found that the soldiers were absent," a resident of northern Mali regretted.

Another source confirmed those sentiments by saying "there has not been any fighting in the recent past. The MNLA rebels are not facing any resistance from the Malian soldiers."

Some of the soldiers who were fighting in the north, especially in Kidal, took advantage of the coup d'etat to return to Bamako without the permission of their military commanders.

"I was there and I will not return there," a soldier who was at Kidal said. He was speaking to Xinhua in Bamako.

Still in Bamako, another soldier spoke to Xinhua and vowed not to return to Kidal. " In that desert, never again," he said while referring to the desert conditions in Kidal region.