Timbuktu shrine in Mali destroyed

DHAKA: A hardline group occupying lawless northern Mali on Saturday destroyed a 15th century shrine to a Muslim saint in the fabled city of Timbuktu, witnesses said.

‘As I am speaking to you, Islamists from Ansar Dine have destroyed the mausoleum of saint Sidi Mahmoud’, one witness told media from Timbuktu, reports Al Jazeera.

The shrine has been listed by UNESCO as an endangered world heritage site.

BDST: 1638 HRS, JUN 30, 2012

Edited by Robab Rosan, Cultural Affairs Editor