Mali's Tuareg rebels will press on with their bid to take over the country's north, which sparked a coup by soldiers angry at the government's handling of the conflict, a statement on their website said.
They "will continue the offensive to dislodge the Malian army and its administration from all the towns of Azawad" - the name for their professed homeland in the northern triangle of the bow-tie shaped nation, it said.
The website of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), said they had on Thursday seized the town of Anefis on the national highway linking Gao and Kidal -- the main cities in the vast desert north.
"The military coup d'etat changes nothing for the MNLA, which is defending Azawad for its self-determination and independence," said a statement signed by spokesman Bakaye Ag Hamed Ahamed.
He said the soldiers carrying out the coup in the south were rebelling after their "crushing defeat in Azawad."
In southern Mali, where the capital Bamako is located, soldiers mutinied on Wednesday, leading to a full-blown coup after months of anger over government's response to the insurrection by Tuareg.
The desert nomads recently returned heavily-armed and jobless from fighting for Libya's slain dictator Moamer Kadhafi and took up their decades-long struggle for independence, overwhelming the Malian army which was poorly equipped to fight them off.
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