A few months back, I wrote about the travesty that was occurring in the historically and culturally rich city of Timbuktu, Mali. Islamic extremists at that point had only just begun their takeover of the country, but now hold more than two-thirds of its territory. And with their coup comes the destruction that seems to follow in the wake of extremist Islamic groups. The victim this week is Timbuktu.
These extremists, who are said to belong to the Ansar Dine faction of Islam (and closely related to al-Qaeda), have been defiling Sufi mausoleums and tombs in an effort to rid the land of all non-Islamic influences. Now they have even taken so far as to cause serious damage to a mosque - one of the holy places of their own religion.
