Showing posts with label Mali. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mali. Show all posts

Friday, November 20, 2015

Gunmen seize hostages at Radisson hotel in capital of Mali, Reports say 80 hostages freed so far - Live updates.



Gunmen seize hostages at Radisson hotel in capital of Mali, Reports say 170 people are being held hostage. (RT).(FR24).

Automatic weapons fire broke out in the luxury 190-room hotel, where security forces have set up a security cordon, according to witnesses. At least two private security guards at the hotel were injured in the attack, the hotel’s security chief told Reuters.

"A hostage-taking or attempted hostage-taking is in progress," said FRANCE 24 correspondent Serge Daniel, reporting from Bamako shortly after gunfire broke out in the Malian capital. Daniel said that security forces had established a security perimeter and that the hotel was "completely sealed off".

Five of the six Turkish Airlines staff who had been held at hostage at the Radisson Blue hotel in Bamako have been released according to reports from Al Jazeera. There had earlier been reports that three of the airline employees had managed to escape from the hotel.

Malian security forces have arrived at the site, which is located just west of the city centre near ministry headquarters and diplomatic missions. Nearly two hours after the attack began, a security source told the AFP that security officials escorted two women out of the building.

"It's all happening on the seventh floor, jihadists are firing in the corridor," a security source told AFP.

Witnesses told FRANCE 24's Daniel that the attackers arrived at the hotel in a car with diplomatic license plates.

There were conflicting reports on the number of gunmen at the hotel. A Radisson employee at the site told the French weekly, Jeune Afrique, that three heavily armed men entered the building around 7am local time.

 A security source however told Reuters that as many as 10 gunmen stormed the building, firing shots and shouting “Allahu Akbar,” or “God is great,” in Arabic.

The Rezidor Hotel Group, which runs the hotel, issued a statement saying that, “as per our information two persons have locked in 140 guests and 30 employees,"

The Radisson Blu is one of Bamako’s most exclusive hotels, which hosts a number of international visitors and business people. The Chinese state news agency Xinhua said several Chinese tourists were among those trapped inside the building.

The US Embassy in Bamako issued a statement on Twitter stating that it was aware of an, “ongoing active shooter operation at the Radisson Hotel”. Another message said, “The U.S. Embassy staff has been asked to shelter in place. All U.S. citizens should shelter in place.”

Update:
Terrorist group behind the attack is reportedly 'Ansar al-Din' Meaning 'Defenders of the faith. 


































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Sunday, March 8, 2015

Saharan Islamist group claims responsibility for Mali attack, killing five.


Saharan Islamist group claims responsibility for Mali attack, killing five. (France24).

A Sahara-based Islamist group on Saturday claimed responsibility for a rare attack in Mali’s capital that killed five people, including two foreigners.

Early Saturday morning on La Terrasse, a popular restaurant with expatriates in Bamako, left a French citizen, a Belgian security officer and three Malians dead and nine others wounded, a senior Malian security official told Reuters.

“There were two individuals who were armed and hooded. One burst into the La Terrasse restaurant and opened fire on people. Then he got into a vehicle in which the other was waiting,” senior police officer Falaye Kanté said.

Five people have been killed in a machine-gun and grenade attack on a bar in Mali's capital, Bamako.

Private daily Bamako, Le Combat , claimed on its website that a man and a woman opened fire with large caliber weapons while a third assailant stood guard at the entrance of the restaurant, but this information could not be verified immediately.

According to the same newspaper , witnesses said they saw the attackers escape in two vehicles , a black Mercedes and a BMW.

One witness said an attacker shouted "God is Great" in Arabic ("Allahu Akbar"). It is the first attack of its kind in the capital.

“As they fled down a neighbouring street, they shot a Belgian man who was in front of his house. He’s dead. Not far away they came across a police vehicle and threw a grenade, killing the driver,” he said.

Mali’s desert north, where French forces wrested control of territory from separatist rebels and Islamist fighters, is plagued by frequent attacks. But this is the first such attack for years in Bamako, located in the south, raising fears the capital will become targeted more often by militants.

Mauritanian news website Al-Akhbar posted an audio recording on social media of a man it said was a spokesman for al-Mourabitoun, a militant group.

In Paris, French President Francois Hollande’s office said the French leader had spoken with Keita and that they had agreed on new “common measures” to reinforce security in Mali. The statement gave no details.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said the Belgian victim was a security officer at the European Union’s delegation in Bamako.

Two international experts with the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) were among the wounded, according to initial reports, said Mongi Hamdi, U.N. special envoy for the peacekeeping mission to Mali (MINUSMA). Read the full story here.
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Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Fresh Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone raises fears of new infection chain


Fresh Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone raises fears of new infection chain. HT: Crof.

Via The Guardian: Fresh Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone raises fears of new infection chain. Excerpt:
A fresh outbreak of Ebola in a part of Sierra Leone where the virus was thought to have been contained has raised fears of a new, uncontrolled infection chain that could send the death toll soaring. 
A Red Cross ambulance team was sent to the remote district of Koinadugu, which had prided itself on being the only area to have kept Ebola at bay, on Tuesday to urgently collect 30 corpses for medical burial. 
The outbreak is a major setback for the Ebola response force and the district, which two weeks ago remained resolved to control the spread of the virus that has officially infected 5,338 people and claimed 1,510 lives in the country. 
Koinadugu has been operating a self-imposed quarantine for four months, thanks to the intervention of an expat businessman, Momah Konte, who returned from Washington and worked with local officials and tribal chiefs to try to prevent the spread. 
The Red Cross said an emergency burial team was making the five-hour journey from Freetown on Tuesday to collect the bodies in the Nenie chiefdom east of the district’s capital Kabala. 
A spokesman said that there were reports of a further 25 ill with Ebola and another 255 being monitored after coming into contact with the dead and the sick. 
The district, which is home to more than 260,000 people, borders on Guinea, where the current outbreak started. It is populated by many remote villages with the movement of traders and farmers difficult to control. 
The disease is widespread in the nearby districts of Bombali and Port Loko, where the Ebola response has been hampered by lack of resources. There are no treatment centres in either district.

Related:  Reuters: U.S. scientists say uncertainties loom about Ebola's transmission, other key facts.
 
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Thursday, October 30, 2014

State Dept. Doc Affirms JW’s Report on Obama Plan to Bring Foreign Ebola Patients to U.S.


State Dept. Doc Affirms JW’s Report on Obama Plan to Bring Foreign Ebola Patients to U.S. HT: JudicialWatch.

A shocking government document outlining the Obama administration’s outrageous plan to admit Ebola-infected non-U.S. citizens into the United States for treatment has surfaced, confirming a story that Judicial Watch broke almost two weeks ago.

On October 17 JW reported that the administration was actively formulating a deal to admit foreign nationals infected with Ebola into the country for treatment. Specifically, the goal is to bring the patients into the country within the first days of diagnosis, according to JW’s sources. The plan includes special waivers of laws and regulations that ban the admission of non-citizens with a communicable disease as dangerous as Ebola.

JW received details of the initiative from high-level government sources that also disclosed the administration was keeping the Ebola plan secret from Congress. The sources expressed concern that the proposal is illegal; endangers the public health and welfare; and should require the approval of Congress.

Following the initial report, JW contacted a number of government agencies that may be involved with the backdoor plan for comment but all except one shunned multiple requests to respond. Only the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) offered this curt statement through spokeswoman Amesheia Buckner: “We have nothing for you on that.”

JW’s initial story also got Congress to get involved. Days after JW’s piece got published, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee fired off a letter to the secretaries of State and Homeland Security asking for details of the Ebola scheme and whether employees of their agencies had engaged in conversations regarding it.

“Please provide me any and all written memos or other documentation written by employees of your Departments regarding the formulation of a plan to allow non-U.S. citizens infected with Ebola to enter the U.S. to receive medical treatment,” says the letter signed by the committee’s chair, Bob Goodlatte of Virginia.


This week several media outlets have confirmed JW’s story, attributing the information to an unclassified State Department report.

It spells out a plan to rush foreigners into the U.S. for Ebola treatment, according to a British newspaper that links the actual four-page document. It would cost $300,000 to treat each patient and another $200,000 for transportation, the State Department memo shows.

The newspaper cites the White House Press Secretary issuing a “qualified denial” this week, saying that it hasn’t happened so far and that he doesn’t know of any plans to do it. “Despite the existence of a written plan, the State Department denies that it has any intention of bringing Ebola-infected noncitizens to the U.S. for treatment,” the news article points out. Read the full story here.

The post State Dept. Doc Affirms JW’s Report on Obama Plan to Bring Foreign Ebola Patients to U.S. appeared first on Judicial Watch.
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Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Video - Gene Simmons: "Where’s the president? Where’s leadership?"

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Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Study: Ebola Can Survive On Surfaces For 50 Days


Study: Ebola Can Survive On Surfaces For 50 Days. (DailyMail).

The number of confirmed Ebola cases passed the 10,000 mark over the weekend, despite efforts to curb its spread. And while the disease typically dies on surfaces within hours, research has discovered it can survive for more than seven weeks under certain conditions.

 During tests, the UK’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) found that the Zaire strain will live on samples stored on glass at low temperatures for as long as 50 days.

The tests were initially carried out by researchers from DSTL before the current outbreak, in 2010, but the strain investigated is one of five that is still infecting people globally.

Ebola was discovered in 1976 and is a member of the Filoviridae family.

HOW LONG DOES EBOLA SURVIVE?

For their 2010 paper, ‘The survival of filoviruses in liquids, on solid substrates and in a dynamic aerosol’, the UK’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) tested two particular filoviruses on a variety of surfaces.

These were the Lake Victoria marburgvirus (Marv), and Zaire ebolavirus (Zebov).

 Each was placed into guinea pig tissue samples and tested for their ability to survive in different liquids and on different surfaces at different temperatures, over a 50-day period.

When stored at 4° (39°F), by day 26, viruses from three of the samples were successfully extracted; Zebov on the glass sample, and Marv on both glass and plastic.

By day 50, the only sample from which the virus could be recovered was the Zebov from tissue on glass.

‘This study has demonstrated that filoviruses are able to survive and remain infectious, for extended periods when suspended within liquid and dried onto surfaces,’ explained the researchers.

‘Data from this study extend the knowledge on the survival of filoviruses under different conditions and provide a basis with which to inform risk assessments and manage exposure.’

The researchers do stress that these tests were carried out in a controlled lab environment, and not in the real world, but published their findings to highlight the survival rates.

Last week the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its Ebola guidelines following the rise in infections.

Ebola (pictured) was discovered in 1976 and is a member of the Filoviridae family.

This family includes the Zaire ebolavirus (Zebov), which was first identified in 1976 and is the most virulent; Sudan ebolavirus, (Sebov); Tai Forest ebolavirus; Ebola-Reston (Rebov), and Bundibugyo ebolavirus (Bebov)

The centre explained that Ebola is not spread through the air, water, or food and a person infected with Ebola can’t spread the disease until symptoms appear.

The time from exposure to when signs or symptoms of the disease appear, known as the incubation period, is two to 21 days, but the average time is eight to 10 days. Read more: THE DAILY MAIL

 Hmmm......You know those baggage handlers in little Belgium refusing to unload African planes......Not so stupid after all !


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Monday, October 27, 2014

Ebola outbreak will hit China, outbreak would last another 6-12 months Peter Piot warns.


Ebola outbreak will hit China, outbreak would last another 6-12 months Peter Piot warns. HT: Crof.

Via the South China Morning Post: Ebola outbreak will hit China, virus pioneer Peter Piot warns. Excerpt:
One of the scientists who discovered Ebola has warned that China is under threat from the deadly virus because of the huge number of Chinese workers in Africa. 
Professor Peter Piot also made the grim prediction that Ebola would claim thousands more lives in the months ahead. 
"It will get worse for a while, and then hopefully it will get better when people are isolated," said Piot, who is in Hong Kong for a two-day symposium. "What we see now is every 30 days there is a doubling of new infections." 
He estimated the epidemic would last another six to 12 months.
West Africa is experiencing the worst Ebola outbreak in history. Cases have also been recorded in the United States, Germany, Spain, Norway, France and Britain. So far, 10,141 suspected cases have been reported and the death toll stands at 4,922. 
"In Africa, there are many Chinese working there. So that could be a risk for China in general, and I assume that one day [an outbreak of Ebola in China] will happen," said Piot, director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. 
He also said that infection control measures at mainland hospitals were not always "up to standard", which put public health at great risk. 
Piot stressed the importance of training people to spot at-risk air passengers before they boarded. And he said voluntary surveillance measures at Chek Lap Kok airport in Hong Kong were not effective enough. "Widespread screening [of arrivals] in airports is not that effective, to be honest … the most cost-effective method is to screen people before they take the plane." 
A patient feared to have Ebola in Hong Kong tested negative in a preliminary test yesterday. The 39-year-old man, who had been in Nigeria from October 13 to 20, went to Prince of Wales Hospital before being transferred to the Infectious Disease Centre at Princess Margaret Hospital. 
Piot said the best way to bring Ebola under control was the use of "safe and cheap" blood tests that took as little as 10 minutes.
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Friday, October 24, 2014

Mali , where Ebola vaccine trials are underway, Becomes Sixth West African Nation Hit by Ebola.


Mali, where Ebola vaccine trials are underway, Becomes Sixth West African Nation Hit by Ebola. (Yahoo).
Mali confirmed its first case of Ebola on Thursday, becoming the sixth West African country to be touched by the worst outbreak on record of the hemorrhagic fever, which has killed nearly 4,900 people.
Mali’s Health Minister Ousmane Kone told state television that the patient in the western town of Kayes was a two-year-old girl who had recently arrived from neighboring Guinea, where the outbreak began.

“The condition of the girl, according to our services, is improving thanks to her rapid treatment,” the minister told state television.


A health ministry official, who asked not to be identified, said the girl’s mother died in Guinea a few weeks ago and the baby was brought by relatives to the Malian capital Bamako, where she stayed for 10 days in the Bagadadji neighborhood before heading to Kayes.

 Coincidence: Ebola Vaccine Trials Under Way in Mali
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Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Al-Qaeda group in Mali feared to possess SA-R(Sams) rockets.


Al-Qaeda group in Mali feared to possess SA-R(Sams) rockets.HT: TundraTabloids.
TIMBUKTU, Mali (AP) — The photocopies of the manual lay in heaps on the floor, in stacks that scaled one wall, like Xeroxed, stapled handouts for a class.
Except that the students in this case were al-Qaida fighters in Mali. And the manual was a detailed guide, with diagrams and photographs, on how to use a weapon that particularly concerns the United States: A surface-to-air missile capable of taking down a commercial airplane.

The 26-page document in Arabic, recovered by The Associated Press in a building that had been occupied by al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb in Timbuktu, strongly suggests the group now possesses the SA-7 surface-to-air missile, known to the Pentagon as the Grail, according to terrorism specialists.
And it confirms that the al-Qaida cell is actively training its fighters to use these weapons, also called man-portable air-defense systems, or MANPADS, which likely came from the arms depots of ex-Libyan strongman Col. Moammar Gadhafi.Hmmmm........Countdown till the first commercial airliner is shot down........running.Read the full story here.

Manpads in Lybia

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Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Video - Muhammad Al-Zawahiri, Brother of Al-Qaeda Leader, at Cairo Demonstration: If France Does Not Withdraw Forces from Mali Immediately, It "Will Come to a Bitter End"


Muhammad Al-Zawahiri, Brother of Al-Qaeda Leader, at Cairo Demonstration: If France Does Not Withdraw Forces from Mali Immediately, It "Will Come to a Bitter End"
Following are excerpts from footage of an Egyptian demonstration against French military intervention in Mali, with the participation of Egyptian Salafist Muhammad Al-Zawahiri, brother of Al-Qaeda Leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri. The footage was posted on the Internet on January 18, 2012.

Egyptian Salafist Muhammad Al-Zawahiri: We are here to protest the French aggression against the Muslims. We consider any aggression against Muslims to be aggression against us all. We are required by the shari’a to repel it.
France must return to its senses and withdraw [from Mali] immediately, or else it will come to a bitter end.
Any Arab who collaborates with France is a traitor, who has betrayed the Islamic nation and all its peoples.

Protest leader: Khaybar, Khaybar, oh Jews…

Crowds: Khaybar, Khaybar, oh Jews…

Protest leader: Muhammad’s army is here!

Crowds: Muhammad’s army is here!

Demonstrator: The French Revolution was conducted for the sake of freedom and human rights. Where are these principles in what France is doing now?
Whenever there is an attempt to implement the shari’a… The implementation of the shari’a in Mali is an internal demand, and according to international human rights treaties, it is forbidden to intervene in a country’s domestic affairs. We should leave it up to the people of Mali. They will make the decisions in their affairs.
At the very least, [Egypt] should expel – or threaten to expel – the French ambassador. Ultimately, the Egyptian government is still in its early days, and cannot take such steps, but we Arab peoples – whether in Egypt or elsewhere… The Western world must understand that the rules of the game have changed. Source: Memri.
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Sunday, January 20, 2013

Video - Allen West Interviews Frank Gaffney on Mali/Africa Conflict – Obama and Bush Policies Faulted.




HT: CounterJihadReport.In a preview of the new PJ Media Next Generation TV show Allen West is joined by Frank Gaffney of the Center for Security Policy and John Phillips to discuss the situation in Mali and Algeria. Gaffney, although a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense in the Reagan administration, faults both the Bush and Obama administration policies regarding Islamists, Sharia, and the more recent Arab Spring.
Go to Next Generation TV to see the interview



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Video - British Islamists Protest French Campaign in Mali: Hollande Is a "Son of Pharoah", Islam Will Dominate France and England.



British Islamists Protest French Campaign in Mali: Hollande Is a "Son of Pharoah", Islam Will Dominate France and England.Transcript provided here by Memri.
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Saturday, January 19, 2013

American isolationism: Obama’s unfolding 'disaster prone' policy.



CNN links Obama’s disaster in Libya with the terrorist attack in Algeria:

American isolationism: Obama’s unfolding 'disaster prone' policy.(Debka).Whereas in his first term as president, Barack Obama opted for “leading from behind,” in international military operations, he enters his second term – even before being sworn in this week – by expanding this step-back precept into American isolationism proper – even when it comes to countering Islamist terrorism. debkafile’s analysts note that this stance was heralded in December 2012 by his abrupt order to the USS Eisenhower strike group and the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group to withdraw from stations opposite Syria. Washington had already then decided to ignore the Syrian chemical war threat, and brush aside the report from the US consul in Istanbul that the Syrian ruler Bashad Assad had already fired chemical bombs against rebels. And so French military intervention in Mali on Jan. 12 and Al Qaeda’s massive attack on an international Algerian gas field four days later found the United States without a single carrier, landing vessel or marine force anywhere in the vicinity, to be available for aiding in the rescue of scores of Western hostages from ten countries, including the United States.
The USS John Stennis carrier is the only vessel left at a Middle East battle station. It is tied down at the Strait of Hormuz to secure the flow of Gulf oil to the West. It is therefore hardly surprising to find Pentagon and top US military experts leveling sharp criticism at the White House’s policy of non-intervention in the Mali conflict, where France is fighting alone, or in Algeria’s In Amenas gas field, where Algerian forces are battling a multinational al Qaeda assault and multiple hostage-taking raid for the third day. The Los Angeles Times reported Saturday, Jan. 20 that the sharp debate between the Pentagon and White House is over the “danger posed by a mix of Islamist militant groups, some with murky ties to Al Qaeda that are creating havoc in West Africa” and whether they present enough of a risk to US allies and interests to warrant a military response.
Many of Obama’s top aides say “it is unclear whether the Mali insurgents, who include members of the group Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, threaten the US.” As to the question, “What threat do they pose to the US homeland? The answer so far has been none.”
Some top Pentagon officials and military officers warn that without more aggressive US action, Mali could become a haven for extremists, akin to Afghanistan before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
debkafile’s counterterrorism sources report that these assertions are misleading.
Whereas the US homeland may not be in immediate peril from the Mali and Algeria episodes, it is important to remember the far-reaching interconnectivity of al Qaeda’s operations. Seven years ago, the suicidal jihads who on July 7, blew up London trains and a bus, used explosives provided by the same Al Qaeda cells of Sahel Desert which are now threatening Mali and which struck the Algerian gas field.
No US official can guarantee that such explosives from the same source won’t be used in 2013 against American targets in Europe or be smuggled into the American homeland by al Qaeda cells in Europe. The Algerian gas field hostage siege was carried out after all by a multinational group that included Algerians, Egyptians, Tunisians, Libyans, a Frenchman and a Malian.
It is true that Al Qaeda terrorists are engaged in vast smuggling rackets – especially of drugs and cigarettes – across Europe, Africa and the Middle East, as well arms trafficking through networks covering Egypt, Sinai, Arabia, the Gulf, Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Sudan – all of which are direct threats of US national security. But to write them off as criminals and smugglers is simplistic: “… some are diehard terrorists with more grandiose visions,” as Pentagon officials point out.
The way the Al Qaeda menace is being handled by Washington has a ripple effect in the wider context. Tehran and Damascus are avidly watching the Obama administration’s stand-aside stance on military involvement in external crises – even emergencies posed by the Al Qaeda terrorist threat encroaching on continental Europe and Africa and the Middle East up to and including the Persian Gulf. Washington should therefore not be surprised when its diplomatic efforts – overt and secret – to rein in Iran’s military nuclear ambitions run into the sand. The Iranians know they have nothing to fear from the Obama administration. The next surprise, our Middle East sources are now reporting, will come from Damascus where, according to a hint President Bashar Assad threw out this week to his intimates.Read the full story here.
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Monday, September 24, 2012

Mali - Islamists begin Timbuktu clampdown on women without veils



Mali - Islamists begin Timbuktu clampdown on women without veils.(RFI).Islamists controlling Mali's northern city of Timbuktu on Thursday began arresting women not wearing a veil and have ordered any women caught out in the street late at night jailed, residents reported. "The Islamists are today criss-crossing the town's market and arresting girls not wearing a veil," El Mehdi Cisse, a resident of the Djinguerey Ber neighbourhood, told AFP by phone. Any woman seen on the street after 11:00 pm would be taken to prison and must pay a fine, he added, citing an edict from the Ansar Dine Islamists, who have ties with Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. "Since last night, they've visited imams to tell them that from now on all girls must be decently dressed," said another resident Boubacar Yattara. The imams were also told of the creation of a "women's prison" and different fines for contravening "Islamic law", one imam said.
The move is the latest in a series hardline rules imposed by jihadists and radical Islamists in Mali's north, where sharia law has been enforced. Amnesty International on Thursday decried what it said was an increase in violence and severe punishments in the north. They cited cases in which they had stoned to death an unwed couple, carried out amputations on suspected robbers and flogged cigarette smokers. A March 22 coup in the capital Bamako led to chaos in the north, with Tuareg rebels and Islamists quick to exploit the army's weakened hold on the expansive desert part of the west African country. Ansar Dine fighters have also destroyed several ancient Muslim sites and shrines in Timbuktu, declaring the relics "haram", or forbidden.Read the full story here.
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