The Salafist Ansar Dine group considers the shrines of the local Sufi version of Islam to be idolatrous. Sufi shrines have also been attacked by hardline Salafists in Egypt and Libya in the past year.
Residents say the group has threatened to destroy all of the 16 main mausoleum sites in Timbuktu despite the international outcry against the attacks.
Unesco Director-General Irina Bokova has called for an immediate halt to the attacks.
“We are subject to religion and not to international opinion. Building on graves is contrary to Islam. We are destroying the mausoleums because it is ordained by our religion,” Oumar Ould Hamaha, a spokesman for Ansar Dine, told Reuters by telephone from the northern city on Sunday.
Armed with Kalashnikovs and pick-axes, about 30 militants on Sunday destroyed three centuries-old mausoleums of saints, local journalist Yaya Tandina told Reuters.
Timbuktu resident Hamed Mohamed said the militants destroyed the tombs of Sidi Elmety, Mahamane Elmety and Cheick Sidi Amar, all in the west of the city.
Ansar Dine is made up of militants of various nationalities including Malians, Algerians and Nigerians.
Tandina and other witnesses said Ansar Dine had on Saturday destroyed the mausoleums of three local saints and at least seven tombs.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 2nd, 2012.
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