Malian masons have rebuilt eight mausoleums destroyed by Islamist militants who 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.
Following an appeal from the West African country's government, UNESCO said it hired local craftsmen to rebuild the mausoleums.