Timbuktu destroyed 1

An undated picture shows vegetation and sand in the foreground with the city of Timbuktu on the horizon. Ansar Dine, one of the hardline Islamist groups controlling northern Mali, threatened on June 30, 2012 to destroy all shrines of Muslim saints in the fabled city of Timbuktu. Mali on July 1, 2012 appealed to the United Nations to take action after Mali extremists ravaged shrines in the fabled city of Timbuktu which the UN's cultural body had listed as endangered days earlier. AFP PHOTO / HO / UN PHOTO / Evan Schneider