Islamist militants, swinging pick-axes and shouting God's praise, destroyed ancient tombs of Muslim saints in Mali's fabled city of Timbuktu on Saturday, sparking international condemnation.

The ramp

At least 35 people died in clashes this week between Islamists and Tuareg rebels in the north Mali town of Gao, according to a new toll released on Saturday by a medical source.

'There were at least

Islamist rebels in northern Mali took hoes and chisels to the tombs of ancient Muslim saints in the city of Timbuktu for a second day, ignoring international pleas to halt their campaign of destructio

Tuareg rebels and the Islamist rebel group Ansar Dine announced on Saturday they are joining forces and creating a body to rule northern Mali as an independent Islamic state.

"The Ansar Dine movement

A Swiss woman has been abducted in the rebel-held northern Malian city of Timbuktu, now controlled by Islamist fighters, a local official and a resident of the town said on Sunday.

"Beatrice, a Swiss

Mali's military junta and the West African bloc ECOWAS announced a deal on state television that includes the lifting of sanctions and an amnesty for those involved in the coup.

The deal provides a

Mali's two-week-old junta agreed on Friday to hand over rule to civilians in return for the end of sanctions by worried neighbors who had threatened to strangle the economy of the West African country

Renegade Malian soldiers went on state television on Thursday to declare they had seized power in a coup after the government's failure to quell a nomad-led rebellion in the north.

The soldiers of th