Islamists Ban Booze, Uncovered Women

BAMAKO, Mali - In one town in northern Mali a man has been whipped for drinking alcohol. In another, pictures of unveiled women have been torn down. In a third, traditional music is no longer heard in the streets.
     While government soldiers were fighting each other this week for control of the capital in Mali's southwest corner, Islamist fighters were asserting control over the northern half of the African country.
     The Islamists, some of whom are foreigners, are imposing strict religious law, setting up a possible showdown with Tuareg nationalist rebels who say they want a secular state and who seized northern Mali in March alongside the Islamists.
     The two groups were once allies but might soon be turning their guns on each other.
     Residents of the three biggest towns in the north say the Islamist fighters seem to be elbowing the Tuareg nationalists aside.