BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — The Islamists who rule northern Mali clashed with government forces for the first time in nearly a year, seizing a strategic city Thursday as the al-Qaida-linked militants pushed toward the government line of control in the center of the troubled country.

The capture of the city of Konna marks a dangerous escalation in the Islamists’ confrontation with the Malian government, which is based hundreds of miles (kilometers) to the south in the capital, Bamako.