Timbuktu

Unknown assailants attacked and withdrew inside a U.N. police base in the Malian city of Timbuktu on Feb. 5 morning, the United Nations said, while security sources said a Malian army checkpoint in the city had also come under fire.

Four people held in a hotel in central Mali by Islamic extremists were freed Saturday by the army and special forces after fighting since Friday left 12 people dead, Mali's defense ministry adviser said.
                   

Al-Qaeda's North Africa arm has claimed responsibility for two attacks against the United Nation's MINUSMA peacekeeping mission in Mali this week, the Mauritanian Al-Akhbar news agency reported May 31. 

Weather and poor storage conditions in Bamako are posing a new threat to thousands of ancient manuscripts that were rescued from the clutches of al-Qaeda in Timbuktu After being spirited away from under the noses of rampaging Islamic extremists, thousands of ancient manuscripts from the fabled city of Timbuktu now face another threat: weather and poor storage conditions in their new loca