Islamist fighters in Timbuktu have destroyed two tombs at the northern Malian city's famous Djingareyber mosque¹, residents have said.

廷巴克图居民称，伊斯兰教武装分子毁坏了这座马里北部城市著名的Djingareyber清真寺里两座坟墓。

The centuries-old Djingareyber mosque is made mainly of mud and wood
Eyewitnesses² said the militants³ shot in the air to warn people away as they began smashing the shrines⁴.

Timbuktu is a World Heritage site, with centuries-old shrines（圣地，神殿） to Islamic saints, revered⁵ by Sufi Muslims.

The al-Qaeda-linked Ansar Dine group that seized the city in April says they are idolatrous（盲目崇拜的） and wants them removed.

The UN Security Council condemned⁶ the destruction last week of some shrines, warning it could constitute a war crime.

This means that a case could be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, whose prosecutor⁸ has already condemned the recent destruction of Muslim tombs.

'Roads blocked'

About a dozen militants drove up to the 14th-Century Djingareyber mosque in an armoured four-wheeled truck, armed with guns, pickaxes（镐） and hoes, one Timbuktu resident who witnessed the scene told Reuters news agency.

Other residents described how the fighters blocked the two main roads leading to the mosque and shot in the air to scare people off.

"The two tombs are adjacent to the western wall of the great mosque and the Islamists have hoes [and] chisels⁹ - they are hitting the mausoleums which are made out of packed earth," another witness told the AFP news agency.

The UN cultural agency Unesco and Mali's government have already called on Ansar Dine to halt its campaign.

The group has destroyed several of 16 listed mausoleums（陵墓） in the city, and has vowed¹⁰ to smash them all.

Its fighters have also broken down the sacred door of the 15th-Century Sidi Yahia mosque.

Unesco has also expressed concern that valuable artefacts and manuscripts may be smuggled¹¹ out of the region and has urged neighbouring countries to prevent this.

Timbuktu owes its international fame to its role as a centre of Islamic learning, based in its three large mosques¹², in the 15th and 16th Centuries. It is also known as the "city of 333 saints", which originate in the Sufi tradition of Islam.

Ansar Dine's Salafist beliefs condemn⁷ the veneration¹³ of saints.

The group seized control of Timbuktu in April, after a coup¹⁴ left Mali's army in disarray¹⁵.

Initially¹⁶, it was working with secular¹⁷ ethnic¹⁸ Tuareg rebels demanding independence for northern Mali's desert territories but the groups have recently clashed and Islamist forces are in control of northern Mali's three main centres - Timbuktu, Gao and Kidal.