Timbuktu has been hit by a prolonged battle between Islamic extremists and the Malian and French armies, residents and a Malian military spokesman has said.
Fighters linked to al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, attacked the city in northern Mali late on Saturday and continued fighting yesterday, said Captain Samba Coulibaly, spokesman for the Malian military in Timbuktu.
The attack started about 10pm local time when a jihadist suicide bomber blew himself up at a Malian military checkpoint at the western entrance to Timbuktu, he said.
The French military joined the Malian army to fight the Islamic radicals.
