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Bamako, Mali (CNN) -- Islamist militants gained ground in one Malian town Monday even as government troops stepped up their offensive to wrest control from rebels.

Militants have taken control of the central town of Diabaly, French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said, according to CNN affiliate BFM TV.

Word of the rebels' advance Monday came as the U.N. Security Council was set to discuss the conflict in Mali, where Islamist rebels have been seizing territory for months. World leaders from a number of countries have said they're considering joining the fight against Islamist militants in the West African nation.

France took the international lead in assisting Mali over the weekend, with military airstrikes targeting rebel training camps and other targets.

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Where is Mali?

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And officials from the United Kingdom, the United States and Germany have said they're considering offering more support to the Malian government as it fights insurgents controlling the north.

France's intervention last week was necessary, Le Drian said, to stop a rebel takeover of the capital, Bamako.

"If we hadn't done that immediately, Bamako would be today in the hands of the terrorists," he said.

But it was unclear Monday when France's role in the military offensive would end, and whether there could be consequences beyond Mali's borders.

"There are risks in France and in other countries as well," Le Drian told BFM. "We are extremely vigilant in that regard."

As French fighter jets bombed rebel strongholds over the weekend, both sides of the fight said they were determined to win.

"France's goal is to lead a relentless struggle against terrorist groups, preventing any new offensive of these groups to the south of Mali," France's Defense Ministry said in a statement.

France has several hundred ground troops in Mali, where they may soon be joined by hundreds of troops from nearby African nations.

Islamist rebels in Mali acknowledged Sunday they suffered heavy losses in fights with the country's military and French troops, but they said it wouldn't stop them.

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"The war has only started," said Sanda Ould Boumama, a spokesman for the al Qaeda-linked rebel group Ansar Dine. "We expect more casualties."

He accused the French military of attacking Malians.

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"Now the world can see that it's the French who are the real terrorists," he said.

French and Malian military officials say the assaults are against rebel strongholds, not civilians.

What's behind the instability in Mali

A French colony until 1960, Mali had military rulers for decades until its first democratic elections in 1992. It remained stable politically until March, when a group of soldiers toppled the government, saying it had not provided adequate support for them to fight ethnic Tuareg rebels in the country's largely desert north.

Tuareg rebels, who'd sought independence for decades, took advantage of the power vacuum and seized swaths of land. A power struggle then erupted in the north between the Tuaregs and local al Qaeda-linked radicals, who wound up in control of a large area as the Tuaregs retreated.

The United Nations says amputations, floggings and public executions -- like the July stoning of a couple who had reportedly had an affair -- became common in areas controlled by radical Islamists. They applied a strict interpretation of Sharia law in banning music, smoking, drinking and watching sports on television, and damaged Timbuktu's historic tombs and shrines.

Already, the armed groups' activity and a pervasive drought have displaced hundreds of thousands of Malians.

And the Islamists' movement southward has raised concerns among leaders in West Africa and elsewhere, some of them calling for swift and decisive military intervention in support of Mali's government, based in Bamako.

The U.N. Security Council last month authorized a one-year military peacekeeping mission in the country. Members of ECOWAS, the Economic Community of West African States, pledged thousands of troops, and the Security Council has urged other nations to contribute forces as well.

A spokesman for Germany's Foreign Ministry said Monday that the country's leaders were considering offering medical, logistical and humanitarian aid to Mali.

British Prime Minister David Cameron agreed to "provide logistical military assistance to help transport foreign troops and equipment quickly to Mali," but no British personnel in a combat role, a Downing Street spokesman said.

The U.S. military is weighing options, including logistical support and intelligence sharing with France, a U.S. defense official said Saturday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because no decisions had been made.

CNN's Dheepthi Namasivayam, Vladimir Duthiers, Saskya Vandoorne and Fred Pleitgen contributed to this report.