The mayor of Timbuktu on Monday said Islamists set fire to a library containing ancient manuscripts as French and Malian-led forces continued to seize control of key parts of the legendary city, the Associated Press reported.
Ousmane Halle, the mayor Timbuktu, described the scene to the AP:
“It’s truly alarming that this has happened,” he told The Associated Press by telephone from Mali’s capital, Bamako, on Monday. “They torched all the important ancient manuscripts. The ancient books of geography and science. It is the history of Timbuktu, of its people.”
He said he did not have details or whether the rebels were still in the town.
