20120701
Press TV
Members of the Ansar Dine extremist group have destroyed centuries-old mausoleums of Sufi Muslim saints in the UNESCO-listed city of Timbuktu in the West African nation of Mali.

The shrines of the Sufi Muslim saints were desecrated on Saturday.

“They are armed and have surrounded the sites with pick-up trucks. The population is just looking on helplessly,” local journalist Yeya Tandina said.

Tandina and other witnesses said Ansar Dine had already destroyed the mausoleums of three local saints -- Sidi Mahmoud, Sidi El Mokhtar, and Alfa Moya -- and at least seven tombs.

“The mausoleum doesn't exist anymore and the cemetery is as bare as a soccer pitch,” local teacher Abdoulaye Boulahi said in describing the burial place of Sidi Mahmoud.

“There are about 30 of them breaking everything up with pick-axes and hoes. They've put their Kalashnikovs down by their side. These are shocking scenes for the people in Timbuktu,” Boulahi added.

The extremist al-Qaeda-linked Ansar Dine group considers the ancient tombs of Muslim saints in Mali's fabled city of Timbuktu to be idolatrous.

The attack came just two days after UNESCO placed Timbuktu on its list of heritage sites in danger.

The Malian government denounced the "destructive fury" of the extremists on Saturday, comparing their actions to war crimes, and threatened to take action on the national and international level.

"The government denounces this destructive fury, comparable to war crimes, and is about to take action against the perpetrators on both a national and international level," the government said in a statement issued on Saturday.

The statement added that the government "will do everything possible to identify the authors of the attacks and take them before the competent courts," noting that it could even go to the International Criminal Court.

UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova has called for an immediate halt to the attacks on the holy sites in Timbuktu.

“There is no justification for such wanton destruction and I call on all parties engaged in the conflict to stop these terrible and irreversible acts,” she said in a statement issued on Saturday.

Alissandra Cummins, the chair of UNESCO's executive committee, said in a statement issued on Saturday that “this is tragic news for us all.”

“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.

Timbuktu, sometimes called the city of 333 saints, is also home to nearly 100,000 ancient manuscripts. Some of the manuscripts date back to the 12th century and are preserved in family homes and private libraries under the care of religious scholars.

Ansar Dine, along with Tuareg rebels and other armed groups, took advantage of a March 22 coup and swept through northern Mali.