[ Ссылка ] Malians may be celebrating the liberation of Timbuktu, however some could be mourning the loss of artefacts destroyed by the Islamist rebels as they fled the city.

Two hundred Malian soldiers alongside 1,000 French troops entered the city, named as an endangered world heritage site by UNESCO.

The fleeing militants destroyed the tomb of Saint
Sidi Mahmoudou and set fire to mosques and the Ahmed Baba Institute, a library containing many historical documents.

A librarian at the Ahmed Baba Institute described being told about the destruction:" 'We destroyed everything. We destroyed the mosque. We destroyed things that are more than 300, 400 years old,' they said, because their religion doesn't accept that (the artefacts)."

Timbuktu is home to some 20,000 manuscripts, some dating back as far as the 12th century. Militants destroyed some which had not been hidden away.

For now, the focus is on securing Timbuktu.

British troops could form part of an EU military training mission in Mali or assist in training soldiers in the west African regional bloc ECOWAS.

British Prime Minister David Cameron has sent a security advisor to meet with French President François Hollande to discuss a deployment.


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