As of today, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb or one of its allies are in complete control of northern Mali’s three major cities.

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — After hours of heavy fighting on Wednesday, an Islamist faction burst into buildings in the city of Gao, forcing the secular rebel group in charge to beat a retreat and replacing the rebel flag with that of the Islamist movement now sweeping across northern Mali.

Resident Hamadada Toure said that he had cowered inside his home during the morning, when the clash started between the National Movement for the Liberation of the Azawad and the Islamist rebels, known as MUJAO.

At around 2 p.m. local time, the shooting stopped and when he emerged, he found that the balance of power in the town had changed.

“I saw five dead NMLA fighters whose bodies had been dumped on the ground near the governor’s building in Gao, the headquarters of the NMLA,” Toure said by telephone around 30 minutes after the fighting had stopped. “In all the buildings that the NMLA had controlled, their flag had been taken down and been replaced by the flag of the Islamists.”

The switch in rebel control of the buildings of Gao was confirmed by a second resident, Mohamed Diamoye, a doctor at the local hospital who said three bodies had been brought to the morgue. They included that of a MUJAO fighter.