Timbuktu shrines damaged by Mali Ansar Dine Islamists

And it continues. Ansar Dine have now destroyed 7 of the 16 shrines.

Fighters from the al-Qaeda-linked group Ansar Dine, controlling northern Mali, have destroyed two tombs at the ancient Djingareyber mud mosque in Timbuktu, an endangered World Heritage site, witnesses say. About a dozen men arrived in an armoured four-wheel drive truck, armed with pickaxes and hoes. They fired in the air to intimidate people and started smashing the tombs, according to Ibrahim Cisse, who witnessed the incident. "They blocked the two main roads leading to the mausoleums. When they saw people gathering for a ceremony nearby, they began firing shots in the air," another resident, Mahamad ould Ibrahim, said.

The new destruction comes after attacks last week on other historic and religious landmarks in Timbuktu that UNESCO called "wanton destruction". Ansar Dine has declared the ancient Muslim shrines "haram", or forbidden in Islam, The Djingareyber mosque is one of the most important in Timbuktu and was one of the fabled city's main attractions before the region became a no-go area for tourists. Ansar Dine has vowed to continue destroying all the shrines "without exception" amid an outpouring of grief and outrage both at home and abroad. On Tuesday a source in Ansar Dine told the AFP news agency that "from now on, as soon as foreigners speak of Timbuktu" they would attack anything referred to as a World Heritage site.

www.aljazeera.com...

www.guardian.co.uk...

An interesting perspective here. That this war is about tribal differences, and skin colour.

The Islamists would like you to think that they are on the side of the Tuareg (Moors).

But one thing is clear: no matter how entrenched Mali's divisions are along colour lines, the Tuaregs have a bigger enemy to fight – Islamists. As one Tuareg woman, Fadimata Walet Hadane, put it: "If it's a choice between one Mali, and being part of an Islamic state under sharia law, we choose one Mali."

The fight in other areas of the Horn of Africa are driving Moors into Mali and surrounding countries to get away from Islamists. Islamists at the same time are following and inset into all the groups here.

The people are caught between Islamists and Islamists. The Islamists have only one goal. Power for themselves and glory to Allah as they see their religion. Therefore they are willing to squeeze everyone. And they are.

If the Islamists end up controlling the Northern side of Mali (and it splits into two), what will happen is .... the Moors and the darker tribes will start moving again into surrounding countries.

Do you see what the Islamists are doing? They are using Hilter's refugee startegy to push their boundaries with a first wave made up of civiilians.

reply to post by SibylofErythrae


Yeh crazy how it all turned around so quickly from a Taureg call for independence to an Islamic takeover. I suppose the religious convictions trumped any and everything else. Either way, the majority Muslims living in the area are pissed at this destruction of a massive part of their heritage AND economy and the Christians have long since fled.

Nice one Ansar.

Interesting article from Foreign Policy describing in depther the author's trip to the shrines and the history of the place and Mali.

But the music and the construction has fallen silent now, replaced by the sharp blows of axes and the spitting of gunfire. And yet, across the spread of 1,000 years of history, this is nothing new in Timbuktu, which has been occupied and sacked by numerous armies, from the Tuaregs to the Songhai to the Arabs, from the Moors to the French.

The last serious occupation, one that did real physical damage to the city according to Keita, was when the Moors invaded and toppled the Songhai Empire in 1591. But no one and no force of nature, not even the Sahara -- whose sands creep up the foundations of the city's homes -- has been able to wipe Timbuktu off the map. Somehow the city has survived, losing bits of its heritage here and there, but keeping most of it intact. And Keita, who descends from people who fled Timbuktu during the Moorish invasion, said that invaders over the centuries added their own touch to the fabled city. "You can still find Moorish style windows in buildings throughout the town," he said. "Timbuktu has always had a genius for being able to absorb its invaders." But the methodical aggression of groups like Ansar Dine don't bring with them architecture or history of their own. And there's much more than earthen tombs and mosques at risk. "The spirit of Islam goes back to the tenth century in this region," explains Keita. "They are killing the soul of Islam."

www.foreignpolicy.com...

Muslims don't like shrines? What the hell is Mecca. Blow it up then!