Timbuktu manuscripts 'mostly safe'
A limited number of manuscripts in Timbuktu were damaged or stolen by Islamist extremists last week before they fled the north Malian city, a South African university said today.
People in the city who have knowledge of the documents reported that there was no malicious destruction of any library or collection, said the University of Cape Town, which helped fund a state-of-the-art library to house the manuscripts.
