Posted: 1/28/2013 6:24:00 AM
Author: Reuters Dispatch
Source: This report first appeared on the Ynet website on January 28, 2013.
Islamist rebels torch Timbuktu manscript library
via Reuters Dispatch
Islamist fighters fleeing Mali's ancient Saharan city of Timbuktu as French and Malian troops closed in set fire to a South African-funded library there containing thousands of priceless manuscripts, the city's mayor said on Monday.
"The rebels sit fire to the newly-constructed Ahmed Baba Institute built by the South Africans... this happened four days ago," Halle Ousmane told Reuters by telephone from Bamako. He said he had received the information from his chief of communications who had travelled south from the city a day ago.
