Timbuktu Mayor Ousmane Halle also said the Islamic radicals moved to the high school, near the army camp in the city. "Traffic is prohibited in the city, I stayed home," said Halle.

Legendary seat of learning in 15th and 16th centuries, Timbuktu saw the mausoleums of its great thinkers destroyed by Islamic extremists. These have now been restored by the UN.

AGADEZ, Niger - Booms from rocket launchers and automatic gunfire crackled around Mali's fabled town of Timbuktu, known as an ancient seat of Islamic learning, for its 700-year-old mud mosque and ...

Related: In light of the Timbuktu conviction, a history of destruction of cultural sites Mr. al-Mahdi is accused of orchestrating the destruction of nine ancient shrines and a mosque door, which ...

In this photo taken Tuesday, Mar. 16, 2004, Alhousseini Ould Alfadrou, 16, sings verses from crumbling ancient Islamic manuscripts in a mud-walled house in Timbuktu, Mali.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) ruled on 17 August, that an Islamic extremist caused €2.7m in damages when he destroyed shrines in Timbuktu, Mali, in 2012.