Members of the Ansar Dine extremist group have destroyed another shrine of a Sufi Muslim saint in a northern Mali region under their control, witnesses say.

On July 1, the Ansar Dine extremists received global condemnation when they started destroying centuries-old mausoleums of Sufi Muslim saints in the UNESCO-listed city of Timbuktu in the West African nation of Mali.

"I saw the Islamists in Goundam destroy the mausoleum of Alfa Mobo, beside the cemetery," local municipal councilor Mamadou Cisse told AFP on Saturday.

An eyewitness, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, "They smashed the mausoleum down to the level of the tomb," adding that "there were 11 of them and someone was filming it."

The witnesses said the extremists used axes and other tools to destroy the shrine.

The al-Qaeda-linked Ansar Dine group considers the ancient tombs of Muslim saints in Mali to be idolatrous.


In January, Tuareg fighters in the north of the country revolted against Bamako demanding an independent homeland, which quickly influenced the West African nation's armed forces.
On March 22, renegade Malian soldiers led by Amadou Haya Sanogo toppled President Amadou Toumani Touré, and took control of government institutions.

The coup leaders said they mounted the coup out of anger at the government's inability to contain the two-month-old Tuareg rebellion in the north of the country.

However, in the wake of the coup d’état, the Tuareg rebels took control of the entire northern desert region, but the Ansar Dine extremists pushed them aside and wrested control of all northern desert regions, which are larger than France or Texas.

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Press TV