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                     Armed Islamists Destroy Timbuktu Sites

   by VOA News

   Armed Malian Islamists are destroying shrines and mausoleums in
   Timbuktu.

   Witnesses told VOA Saturday that members of the Ansar Dine Islamist
   group are attacking the historic sites with axes and other instruments.

   Witnesses say the mausoleum of a revered Muslim saint, Sidi Mahmoud,
   has been destroyed. Timbuktu has been listed by UNESCO as an endangered
   world heritage site.

   UNESCO says Timbuktu was once an intellectual and spiritual capital, as
   well as a center for the propagation of Islam throughout Africa in the
   15th and 16th centuries.

   UNESCO said on its website Thursday that it had decided to place
   Timbuktu on its endangered list because its sites were "threatened by
   the armed conflict in the region."

   The U.N. agency says it is concerned about trafficking in cultural
   objects from Timbuktu's sites, especially "important ancient
   manuscripts" that could be "looted and smuggled abroad by unscrupulous
   dealers."

   Timbuktu is home to thousands of ancient manuscripts, preserved in
   family homes and private libraries under the care of religious
   scholars.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/armed-islamists-ansar-dine-timbuktu/1
   352092.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/armed-islamists-ansar-dine-timbuktu/1352092.html