A quarrel started between the separatist fighters and Islamists who guarded the post, with the terrorists demanding that the men of the MNLA to lay down their weapons, which they refuse.

An Ansar Dine commander stated that "MNLA defeated elements wanted to move into the city, they were asked to put down their weapons, they refused and started firing, we fought back.

[9]On 2 July there was more destruction, most notably at Sidi Yahya's mausoleum, one of the three "great mosques" in the city built in the 15th century during the Islamic Golden Age, according to UNESCO.

Sanda Ould Bamana then told the BBC that Ansar Dine had done almost 90% of what it sought to in destroying the mausolea in accordance with sharia, which he said does not permit tombs to be taller than 15 centimetres.

[12] Local imam Alpha Abdoulahi said that the militants wanted to "destroy the mystery" of the gateway and that he was offered "50,000 CFA for repairs but I refused to take the money, saying that what they did is irreparable.

"[15] On 28 January 2013, as French-Malian troops captured Timbuktu Airport, the departing forces set fires within the Ahmed Baba Institute, which they had used as a barracks.

During the occupation, Timbuktu residents ran great risks to smuggle tens of thousands of other priceless manuscripts to relatively safe locations.

[18] The MNLA's spokesman Hama Ag Mahmoud, speaking from Nouakchott, said of the destructions that "the perpetrators of these heinous acts, their sponsors, and those who support them must be made accountable.

"[19] On the 12 July, the MNLA released a statement that read "we call on the USA, France and all other countries who want to stand against Ansar Dine, Boko Haram and al Qaeda who are now holding Timbuktu, Gao and Kidal to help us kill them and help the people in those cities.

[7] Haidara's assessment was echoed by the media, which read the action as reacting to UNESCO's decision to put the sites on the endangered list.

[24][25] The chairwoman of UNESCO's 36th session, Yeleonor Mitrofanova, told the World Heritage Committee meeting in Saint Petersburg that she "appealed to all those engaged in the conflict in Timbuktu to exercise their responsibility – for the sake of future generations, spare the legacy of their past"[9] A source reported to be affiliated to a local imam was quoted as saying that Ansar Dine had "raped Timbuktu today.

"[26] United Nations Representative for West Africa Said Djinnit said that the events "confirm the hold that terrorist groups have on Mali’s north, which worsens the humanitarian position of local people.

She cited Mali's accession to Article 8 of the Rome Statute that says any "deliberate attacks against undefended civilian buildings which are not military objectives are a war crime.

"[29] ECOWAS also issued a statement after a meeting in Ouagadougou that read: "They are asking the International Criminal Court to proceed with necessary investigations to identify those responsible for war crimes and to take the necessary action against them."

The systematic violation of these places of reverence and prayer, which for centuries have been part of the soul of this famed sub-Saharan city, constitutes an intolerable act.

[37] Prime Minister Cheick Modibo Diarra also called for an immediate international intervention to restore Bamako's writ;[38] he was supported by Niger.

[41] The head of the Tombouctou Manuscripts Project at the University of Cape Town, Shamil Jeppie, said that the destruction was akin to that of the Buddhas of Bamiyan.

[43] Voice of America reported that people in the city say the actions of Ansar Dine as unrelated to Islamic thought and teachings, but instead targeted at avenging the threats of the "international community" and the Western world-led War on Terror.

Timbuktu MP in the National Assembly of Mali, Haïdara El Hadji Baba, said that "Ansar Dine’s real motivation in doing this was to defy the international community;” he cited the destructions as emanating after UNESCO's classification of the shrines as "in danger."

"[45] On 27 September 2016 the International Criminal Court (ICC) found Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi, an islamist member of the Ansar Dine, guilty of war crime of attacks against religious and historic buildings by deliberately destroying nine mausoleums and the secret gate of the Sidi Yahya Mosque between 30 June and 11 July 2012 and sentenced him to 9 years in prison in a landmark case that was the first successful prosecution focusing solely on the destruction of a World Heritage Site.

[47] Local masons have reconstructed many monuments in Timbuktu, and UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova visited the site and praised the Malian government.