The army said it had abandoned bases around Gao, the north's main city, after a fierce onslaught by rebels, with a view to avoiding a conflict that could be harmful to civilians.

"Given the proximity of the camps to residential areas, our forces decided not to fight," said a statement broadcast on state television by junta leader Captain Amadou Sanogo.

In a statement on its website, the rebel Azawad National Liberation Movement (MNLA) confirmed that Gao had been taken.

"The MNLA has just ended Mali's occupation of the region of Gao by seizing and taking control of the city this Saturday," the statement read.

The MNLA said its forces were "encircling the city of Timbuktu to dislodge Mali's remaining political and military administration."

Taking advantage of confusion

Timbuktu is the last major stronghold in the north not to have fallen to the rebels, who have seized control across vast swathes of the north in the past 48 hours.

The rebels, a loose alliance of separatist nomad Tuaregs and local Islamists, have taken advantage of the confusion that has surrounded a coup in the capital Bamako in their push for a regional homeland in the vast desert region of Azawad.

In his statement, coup leader Sanogo admitted that "a more viable security plan will be put into place so that the whole territory of Mali will not be violated."

Later on Sunday, Sanogo said he had reinstated the country's previous constitution after international pressure. The military's mutiny against President Amadou Toumani Toure came as it argued that he had proved incompetent in facing the rebel offensive.

The Economic Community of West African States had threatened to impose tough sanctions on Mali is constitutional order was not restored by Monday.

rc/dfm (AFP, AP, Reuters)