Al Qaeda linked group destroys Timbuktu shrines
Al Qaeda-linked militants in northern Mali went on the rampage in Timbuktu on Saturday, destroying ancient tombs of Muslim saints just after Unesco listed the fabled city as an endangered world heritage site.
The onslaught by armed militants from the Ansar Dine group was launched amid unrest in Mali’s vast desert that erupted in the chaotic aftermath of a March 22 coup in Bamako.
“They have raped Timbuktu today. It is a crime,” said a source close to a local imam in Timbuktu, known as the ‘City of 333 Saints’.
Witnesses told AFP the militants, holding parts of northern Mali, have so far destroyed three ancient shrines.
“The tombs of Sidi Mahmoud, Sidi Moctar and Alpha Moya in Timbuktu were destroyed on Saturday by the militants ... who are heading towards other tombs,” said one witness, whose report was confirmed by the source close to the imam.
In addition to three historic mosques, Timbuktu is home to 16 cemeteries and mausoleums, according to the Unesco website.
“This is tragic news for us all,” Alissandra Cummins, chair of Unesco’s executive committee, said in a statement to AFP in Russia, where the body is meeting this week, describing the attacks as ‘wanton damage’.
“I appeal to all those engaged in the conflict in Timbuktu to exercise their responsibility – for the sake of future generations, spare the legacy of their past,” she pleaded.
Ansar Dine, one of the armed militant groups which has seized control in northern Mali, has said no site would be safe in Timbuktu.
“Ansar Dine will today destroy every mausoleum in the city. All of them, without exception,” spokesman Sanda Ould Boumama told AFP through an interpreter from the city.
The Ansar Dine spokesman suggested Saturday’s action was in retaliation for the Unesco decision on Thursday to put the World Heritage site, a cradle of Islamic learning founded in the fifth century, on its endangered list.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 1st, 2012.
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@Moon: Your comment is ignorant. Muslims are killing each other in Syria, in Pakistan, Iran, Libya and now Muslims are now destroying their own historic sites. The US has NOTHING to do with it. When Serbs were murdering Muslims in Bosnia no Muslims came to their aid. It was the US military that protected them.
Sad to see that this practice of worshiping tombs and dead men afflicts Islam even outside South Asia. The sooner such practices are ended the better it is for all Muslims.
Soon a day is coming ..when whole world including Muslims will curse these radicals for destroying Muslim heritage and their stature world wide......These radicals are all time ignorant people who fight in the name of "EGO" not God...
this is very bad thing .alqaeda activist may be stoped .muslim world shoulld cry on there actimism .they are not muslim .they are enimy of muslim .shrine of sidi mahmoud is great heritage of muslim.i am very sad my heart is weeping.the people of timbaktum should united against these activists.i am with with people of timbaktu.
Taliban of Timbuktu
Unesco is a toothless organization, it is run by anti-western elements acting more through politicking than actual concern for real sites. Their latest exploit in Bethlehem proves the point where, against all misgivings coming from the UN itself, they gave the endangered status to the church of nativity.