Masons rebuild Timbuktu tombs after militant destruction

BAMAKO (Reuters) - Malian masons have rebuilt eight mausoleums destroyed by Islamist militants that took over the desert city of Timbuktu in 2012, the United Nations and Malian officials said.

Invading Islamist fighters considered a local Sufi veneration for the tombs as idolatrous and hacked them to pieces. Thousands of ancient manuscripts were also burned in a suicide bombing.