World War II-Era German U-Boat Found Off Coast Of Massachusetts

From Huff Post:  World War II-Era German U-Boat Found Off Coast Of Massachusetts

BOSTON -- Divers have discovered a World War II-era German submarine nearly 70 years after it sank under withering U.S. attack in waters off Nantucket.

The U-550 was found Monday by a privately funded group organized by New Jersey lawyer Joe Mazraani. It was the second trip in two years to the site by the team, some of whom had been searching for the lost U-boat for two decades.

Using side-scan sonar, the seven-man team located the wreck listing to its side in deep water about 70 miles south of Nantucket.

Sonar operator Garry Kozak said he spotted the 252-foot submarine during the second of an exhausting two days of searching. Kozak said the team asked him if they'd found it, then erupted in joy without a word from him.

"They could see it with the grin (on my face) and the look in my eyes," Kozak said.
On April 16, 1944, the U-550 torpedoed the gasoline tanker SS Pan Pennsylvania, which had lagged behind its protective convoy as it set out with 140,000 barrels of gasoline for Great Britain, according to the U.S. Coast Guard website and research by Mazraani.

The U-boat slipped under the doomed tanker to hide. But one of the tanker's three escorts, the USS Joyce, saw it on sonar and severely damaged it by dropping depth charges.

The Germans, forced to surface, manned their deck guns while another escort vessel, the USS Gandy, returned fire and rammed the U-boat. The third escort, the USS Peterson, then hit the U-boat with two more depth charges. The crew abandoned the submarine, but not before setting off explosions to scuttle it. The submarine hadn't been seen again until Monday.

The U-550 is one of several World War II-era German U-boats that have been discovered off the U.S. coast, but it's the only one that sank in that area, Mazraani said. He said it's been tough to find largely because military positioning of the battle was imprecise, and searchers had only a general idea where the submarine was when it sank. Kozak noted that the site is far offshore and has only limited windows of good weather.
The team towed a side-scan sonar vessel in a mow-the-lawn pattern over the search area and found the U-550 after covering 100 square miles of ocean, between the trip this year and last year, Kozak said.

Just the nose of U-boat was visible on sonar on the first pass, but the team was delirious after the second pass, when the sonar image made it obvious they'd found it, Mazraani said. Quick dives to the wreck to beat bad weather confirmed the find with pictures.

The other team members were Steve Gatto, Tom Packer, Brad Sheard, Eric Takakjian and Anthony Tedsechi.
Mazraani is cagey about the vessel's precise location, saying only that it's in deep water. Mazraani's said his best estimate was that the team spent thousands of dollars of its own money on the expedition. He joked that no one on the team, whose members range in age from the mid-20s to mid-50s, stands to make money from the find unless someone writes a book.

Mazraani said the next step is to contact any sailors or their families from the escort vessels, the tanker and the German U-boat to share the news and show the pictures. Another trip to the site is coming, he said, adding the investigation has just started.

"The history behind it all is really what drives us," Mazraani said.

 

Tender issued for underwater munitions survey off Halifax

From Halifax Business: Tender issued for underwater munitions survey off Halifax

The federal government is looking to finish a survey of an underwater shipwreck littered with tonnes of munitions just outside of Halifax.


Defence Construction Canada, a Crown corporation that serves the Defence Department, has issued a tender for a contractor to complete the survey in an area south of the city that’s popular with recreational divers.

The project, which is estimated to cost $310,050, is listed in a notice recently posted on a website that advertises government contracts.

The SS City of Vienna narrowly missed the entrance to the Halifax harbour on July 2, 1918, and was wrecked on rocky shoals near Sambro Island. The ship’s crew made it off safely with some of the cargo, but during a gale two months later the boat sank into deeper water.

The ship’s log shows it was carrying an arsenal that includes 60-pounder shells, Howitzer empty projectiles and shrapnel. Defence Construction Canada says 363 tons of shells were reportedly salvaged and removed from the site.

“Based on the above quantities, it is estimated that up to 10,000 individual munitions items may remain at the site, or a total of approximately 815 metric tonnes,” Defence Construction Canada says in its notice.

“It is unknown whether all items are empty, or if some may be filled with explosive contents.”

The ship’s hull is no longer intact and the entire area is described as a “debris field.”

The military’s Fleet Diving Unit conducted two initial surveys of the site in 2004, where they found empty and deteriorated projectiles as well as several broken pieces of ordnance. But they couldn’t carry out a more thorough survey because of a lack of resources, Defence Construction Canada says.

“Reportedly, ‘hundreds of pieces of ordnance were located within a 30-metre radius of the remnants of the wreck,” the notice says.

“Based on anecdotal information, other types of ordnance may also be located at the site. … If present, these munitions are unlikely to have originated from the SS City of Vienna due to the age of the wreck (ie. - World War I) but may be associated with other shipwrecks in the area.”

The vessel now sits about 10 to 20 metres below the water’s surface, depending on the tide. It is 2.4 kilometres northeast of Sambro Island and 2.6 kilometres from shore.

The project would include sonar imaging of the area and a seafloor survey. Defence Construction Canada says it isn’t looking for the munitions to be disposed of unless the survey shows they’re unsafe.

Officials with Defence Construction Canada were not available for comment.

The tender closes Aug. 28.

ARQ Treasure Quest Brings You a Unique Underwater RTS Game

From Chron.com:  ARQ Treasure Quest Brings You a Unique Underwater RTS Game

Arqueonautas and Biodroid team up to bring shipwreck underwater archaeology to videogames.

Lisbon, Portugal (PRWEB) June 22, 2012 

Arqueonautas Worldwide - Arqueologia Subaquática SA (AWW), a leading marine archaeology company, and Biodroid Entertainment, a media entertainment company, both based in Portugal, have reached an agreement to jointly develop a videogame of shipwreck underwater expeditions strongly inspired by the actual work of the former in underwater heritage sites all around the globe. Biodroid will become equity holder in this venture.

Titled “ARQ Treasure Quest,” the game concept was developed by the Arqueonautas team and will encompass strategy elements as well as simulation realistic facets from operations into its gameplay. The primary goal for the player is to successfully manage a marine archaeological expedition with an expert team of historians, archaeologists, divers, surveyors, conservators, researchers, investors, government officials and many other specialists in search for sunken treasures. An important part of the gameplay is to follow actual legal procedures and good governances to achieve satisfying results moving through the different levels.
The game is currently searching for crowd funding on IndieGoGo and a first demo will be presented in August, during GDC Europe.

Nikolaus Graf Sandizell, founder of Arqueonautas, commented, “ARQ Treasure Quest is an important step in our strategy of brand diversification initiated with the Arqueonautas Fashion Line. To replicate in a game format the Arqueonautas experience will further promote our values among a totally new market and help us spread our message as an active organization working on behalf of the Protection of World Maritime Heritage, in a way that can also be fun, exciting and adventurous.”

On the occasion Diogo Horta e Costa, founding partner of Biodroid, said that “this venture with Arqueonautas will open our production to a whole new genre of gaming, one with historical and technical factual data and a worthwhile adventures mission. At the same time that we’ll bring awareness for maritime heritage, we’ll bring players to experience first-hand the fun and excitement of shipwreck diving in exotic locations with a true historical back-drop.”

About Arqueonautas Worldwide
 
Arqueonautas Worldwide – Arqueologia Subaquática, SA (AWW) was founded in August 1995 as a private limited company in Madeira, Portugal. Since then, AWW has developed into a leading, commercially oriented marine archaeological institution, listed at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (QOW / PTAQW9AE0006), which recovers, under strict scientific criteria cargo and artifacts from endangered and historically significant shipwrecks. An up-listing from the Open Market to the Entry Standard was approved at the annual Assembly General Meeting, on the 13th April 2012 and will take place in the fourth quarter of 2012. From its headquarters in Portugal and under the leadership of its founder, Nikolaus Graf Sandizell, an experienced team of historians, marine archaeologists, research divers and conservation experts, works around the globe on a variety of search and recovery projects. The share capital of the company, which is conducted as a Portuguese corporation (S.A.), is currently divided into 8,200,030 shares (book-entry shares). The activity is financed entirely by private investors and the proceeds of the Arqueonautas Fashion Line (a trademark of the OTTO Group), without government subsidies.

The Company's mission is to save world maritime heritage as well as to promote scientific studies by carrying out marine archaeological projects whilst ensuring a fair return on investment to shareholders. To date, Arqueonautas has found more than 150 historical shipwrecks in Africa, Asia and South America. From the 15 wrecks excavated so far, 100,000 coins and 10,000 culturally significant artifacts have been recovered and documented in scientific publications. Currently AWW is preparing a recovery project in Indonesia of the largest shipwreck porcelain cargo ever found, the ‘Wanli Cargo’. Recovery operations are expected to begin in 2013. In the past twelve years, Arqueonautas has already located 40 historic shipwreck sites and carried out four successful recovery operations in the territorial waters of Mozambique. Survey operations
for nine other historically documented shipwrecks off the coast of Mozambique are underway.
About Biodroid Entertainment

Biodroid is a game developer based in Lisbon, Portugal, that adds value by creating and producing fresh and innovative products based on global brands and global IP. Biodroid is currently developing games, applications and digital content for both the Consumer Market (B2C) and the Corporate Market (B2B).

Biodroid is a multi-platform developer, including XBOX360, Playstation, Nintendo, iOS, Android, Blackberry, Web/PC and Social Media platforms. Titles like Billabong Surf Trip (for iOS and Android) nominee for the IMGA awards in 2010 in best sports games category, Cristiano Ronaldo Freestyle (smartphones and tablets), Miffy’s World (for Nintendo DS, WiiWare and PC), CityOn (for web browsers) and Rural Value (for Facebook), are some examples of Biodroid’s continuous growing portfolio.

 

 

‘UFO’ at bottom of Baltic sea may be a top-secret lost Nazi weapon

From Updated News:  ‘UFO’ at bottom of Baltic sea may be a top-secret lost Nazi weapon

Divers exploring a ‘UFO-shaped’ object in the  Baltic sea say that the strange, curved object might be a Nazi device lost  beneath the waves since the end of the Second World War.

Sonar scans have shown that the device,  raised 10ft above the seabed and measuring 200ft by 25ft, could be the base of  an anti-submarine weapon.

The weapon was built with wire mesh which  could have baffled submarine radar, leading enemy craft to crash – much in the  same way as turning out a lighthouse could be used as a weapon against shipping.
But now former Swedish naval officer and WWII  expert Anders Autellus has revealed that the structure – measuring 200ft by 25ft – could be the base of a device designed to block British and Russian submarine  movements in the area.

The huge steel-and-concrete structure could  be one of the most important historical finds in years.
Autellus claims it would have been built of  double-skinned concrete and reinforced with wire mesh to baffle radar – which  could explain why the dive team’s equipment repeatedly failed near the mystery  object.
‘The area was vital to the German war machine  because most of the ball bearings for its tanks and trucks came from here.  Without them the German army would have ground to a halt,’ explained one  expert.
‘This device dwarfs anything ever found  before and is an important weapons discovery,’ they added.
Explorer Stefan Hogeborn – who is studying  the images for the Ocean X diving team – agreed: ‘It is a good candidate for the  answer to this mystery. The object lies directly underneath a shipping  route.’

‘It would be of enormous weight in steel and  concrete. Other Nazi anti-sub anchoring devices were nowhere near as large,’ he  added.

While the Ocean Explorer team is  understandably excited about their potentially earth-shattering find,  others  are slightly more sceptical and are questioning the accuracy of  the sonar  technology.

The Swedish team exploring the structure have  been plagued with problems.

The divers  exploring a ‘UFO-shaped’ object  at the bottom of the Baltic Sea said that team their equipment stops working  when they approach within 200m.

Professional diver Stefan Hogerborn, part of  the Ocean X team which is exploring the anomaly, said some of the team’s cameras  and the team’s satellite phone would refuse to work when directly above the  object, and would only  work once they had sailed away.

The divers exploring a ‘UFO-shaped’  object  at the bottom of the Baltic Sea say their equipment stops working when they  approach within 200m.

Professional diver Stefan Hogerborn, part of  the Ocean X team which is exploring the anomaly, said some of the team’s cameras  and the team’s satellite phone would refuse to work when directly above the  object, and would only  work once they had sailed away.

He is quoted as saying: ‘Anything electric  out there – and the  satellite phone as well – stopped working when we were  above the object.

‘And then we got away about 200 meters and it  turned on again, and when we got back over the object it didn’t  work.’

The object was first found in May last year,  but because of a lack of funding and bad timing, they have  were not able to  pull a team together to see for themselves – just the  strange, metallic  outline, and a similar disk-shaped object about 200  metres away.

During their visit, the team saw a 985-foot  trail that they described ‘as a  runway or a downhill path that is flattened at  the seabed with the  object at the end of it’.

As it was before the recent dive, the story  behind the object is anyone’s guess, from a ‘plug to the inner  world’ to the  Millennium Falcon ship from Star Wars.

In the past, such technology has confused  foreign objects with unusual- but natural – rock formations.
Part of the trouble they face,  however, is  that they have no way of telling what is inside the supposed cylinder- whether  it is filled with gold and riches or simply aged  sediment particles.

They’re hoping for the former, and history  seems to be in their favour.

The Baltic Sea is a treasure trove for shipwreck hunters, as an estimated 100,000 objects are thought to line  the  cold sea’s floor.

The company have created a submarine  that  they hope will appeal to tourists and wannabe shipwreck hunters who will pay to  take a trip down to the bottom of the Baltic Sea to see for themselves.

A further dive will take place in the coming  weeks.

 

Century-old cards found in Ohio attic expected to fetch millions

From CBSSports : Century-old cards found in Ohio attic expected to fetch millions
DEFIANCE, Ohio -- Karl Kissner picked up a soot-covered cardboard box that had been under a wooden dollhouse in his grandfather's attic. Taking a look inside, he saw hundreds of baseball cards bundled with twine. They were smaller than the ones he was used to seeing.

But some of the names were familiar: Hall of Famers Ty Cobb, Cy Young and Honus Wagner.

Then he put the box on a dresser and went back to digging through the attic.

It wasn't until two weeks later that he learned that his family had come across what experts say is one of the biggest, most exciting finds in the history of sports card collecting, a discovery worth perhaps millions.

The cards are from an extremely rare series issued around 1910. Up to now, the few known to exist were in so-so condition at best, with faded images and worn edges. But the ones from the attic in the town of Defiance are nearly pristine, untouched for more than a century. The colors are vibrant, the borders crisp and white.
 
"It's like finding the Mona Lisa in the attic," Kissner said.

Sports card experts who authenticated the find say they may never again see something this impressive.
"Every future find will ultimately be compared to this," said Joe Orlando, president of Professional Sports Authenticator.

The best of the bunch -- 37 cards -- are expected to bring a total of $500,000 when they are sold at auction in August during the National Sports Collectors Convention in Baltimore. There are about 700 cards in all that could be worth up to $3 million, experts say. They include such legends as Christy Mathewson and Connie Mack.

Kissner and his family say the cards belonged to their grandfather, Carl Hench, who died in the 1940s. Hench ran a meat market in Defiance, and the family suspects he got them as a promotional item from a candy company that distributed them with caramels. They think he gave some away and kept others.
"We guess he stuck them in the attic and forgot about them," Kissner said. "They remained there frozen in time."

After Hench and his wife died, two of his daughters lived in the house. Jean Hench kept the house until she died last October, leaving everything inside to her 20 nieces and nephews. Kissner, 51, is the youngest and was put in charge of the estate. His aunt was a pack rat, and the house was filled with three generations of stuff.

They found calendars from the meat market, turn-of-the-century dresses, a steamer trunk from Germany and a dresser with Grandma's clothes neatly folded in the drawers.

Months went by before they even got to the attic. On Feb. 29, Kissner's cousin Karla Hench pulled out the dirty green box with metal clips at the corners and lifted the lid.

Not knowing whether the cards were valuable, the two cousins put the box aside. But Kissner decided to do a little research. The cards were at his office in the restaurant he owns when he realized they might have something. He immediately took them across the street and put them in a bank vault.

Still not knowing whether the cards were real, they sent eight to expert Peter Calderon at Heritage Auctions in Dallas, which recently sold the baseball that rolled through the legs of Boston Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner in the 1986 World Series for $418,000.

Calderon said his first words were "Oh, my God."

"I was in complete awe," he said. "You just don't see them this nice."

The cards are from what is known as the E98 series. It is not clear who manufactured them or how many were produced, but the series consists of 30 players, half of them Hall of Famers.

The experts at Heritage Auctions checked out the family's background, the age of the home and the history of the meat market. They looked at the cards and how they were printed.

"Everything lines up," said Chris Ivy, the company's director of sports auctions.

They then sent all the cards to Professional Sports Authenticator, which had previously authenticated fewer than 700 E98s. The Ohio cards were the finest examples from the E98 series the company had ever seen.
The company grades cards on a 1-to-10 scale based of their condition. Up to now, the highest grade it had ever given a Ty Cobb card from the E98 series was a 7. Sixteen Cobbs found in the Ohio attic were graded a 9 -- almost perfect. A Honus Wagner was judged a 10, a first for the series.

Retired vintage sports card auctioneer Barry Sloate of New York City said: "This is probably the most interesting find I've heard of."

In a measure of what baseball cards can be worth, the owner of the Arizona Diamondbacks paid a record $2.8 million for a rare 1909 Honus Wagner. Another version of the card brought $1.2 million in April. (Wagner's tobacco cards were pulled from circulation, either because the ballplayer didn't want to encourage smoking among children or because he wanted more money.)

Heritage Auctions plans to sell most of the cards over the next two of three years through auctions and private sales so that it doesn't flood the market. In all, they could bring $2 million or $3 million, Ivy said.
The Hench family is evenly dividing the cards and the money among the 20 cousins named in their aunt's will. All but a few have decided to sell their share.

"These cards need to be with those people who appreciate and enjoy them," Kissner said.

Rare duck-billed dinosaur fossil destroyed by vandals in Alberta

The Globe and Mail:  Rare duck-billed dinosaur fossil destroyed by vandals in Alberta
Paleontologists were thrilled when they found the fossilized remains of a duck-billed dinosaur in northwestern Alberta last month.

But joy turned quickly to despair when they returned to the site near the Red Willow River a few days ago and found that vandals had smashed the Hadrosaur skeleton to pieces.

he Pipestone Creek Dinosaur Initiative says the fossil was discovered by paleontologist Phil Bell and a University of Alberta team on June 15.

They partially prepared it for removal, then reburied it for protection until it could be fully removed later this month.

Bell returned to the site on Thursday and found the specimen — which was about one meter long and 80 centimetres wide — had been destroyed.

“We still know very little about the dinosaurs that existed up here so every skeleton is crucial,” Bell said in a statement.

“Each bone is irreplaceable.”

RCMP say they are investigating but don’t have any suspects. They say a number of fossils had either been removed or destroyed at the site.

The group says it is at least the fourth act of fossil poaching and vandalism in the region in the last month and a half.

At Pipestone Creek Park in the region, a bone bed has been harmed, and in late May, a Plexiglas cover protecting and showcasing several fossilized bones was smashed.

In later incidents in June, a vertebra and several rib bones were stolen.

The group says the University of Alberta and the Royal Tyrell Museum are also helping in the case.
The group says it is illegal to alter, mark or damage palaeontological resources under the Historical Resources Act. Offenders may face up to $40,000 in fines or a year in prison.

Bell said the destroyed fossils are beyond having monetary value, adding that he considers them priceless.
“They are irreplaceable historical artifacts and illegal to sell,” he said.

However, a Tyrannosaurus bataar fossil which U.S. government seized last month on the grounds that it is alleged to have been fraudulently imported, previously fetched $1.052 million at auction. The bones were discovered in Mongolia in 1946, and Mongolia hopes to have them eventually returned there.

In May, Bell stated in a blog post about the Mongolian case that in the last 10 years, fossils have been disappearing at alarming rates.

“Recently, it has come to our attention that the illegal sale of dinosaur fossils on the black market is reaching new lows,” Bell stated on the Pipestone Creek Dinosaur Initiative’s blog.

“What’s worse, huge public auctions in the United States are creating a demand for these priceless treasures,” he added.

Police are asking anyone with information about the latest incident to contact them.

A team of local volunteers had been organized to remove the fossil using quads and winches next week.
Bell said the Hadrosaur would have warranted a major exhibit in a new museum that’s planned for the area, scheduled to open next summer in Wembley, Alta.

“It’s a tragedy not only for our science but for the whole community that will benefit from the new museum,” he said.

National Navy Museum Receives Deep Sea Submersible

From US Navy website:  National Navy Museum Receives Deep Sea Submersible

WASHINGTON (NNS) -- The National Navy Museum (NNM) received cable-controlled undersea recovery vehicle (CURV) III, the Navy's most sophisticated deep sea recovery submersible from 1976 until its retirement in 2007, along with its operator control van, July 2.

The submersible and van were installed in the Museum's new Cold War Gallery, located in Building 70 at the Washington Navy Yard.

The display will include multiple real-time and vintage video camera feeds from Navy research and recovery submersibles, including historic feeds from CURV-III.

CURV-III, which was capable of diving to depths of more than 20,000 ft., was ultimately made obsolete with the introduction of the Navy's state-of-the-art CURV-21.

"The CURV III represents a milestone in Navy history. For more than 20 years, it was the workhorse of deep diving operations and was a reminder of our American ingenuity and technological capabilities," said Navy Capt. Jerry Hendrix, interim director of the Naval History and Heritage Command, which supports NNM. "This vehicle is masterpiece of naval research and design, and will be a wonderful addition to our Cold War Gallery."

When it was initially deployed, Soviet planners were shocked to discover CURV-III's abilities to retrieve lost Navy assets from such depths, especially when many of the "recovered" assets were theirs.

"This is a remarkably important Cold War story, one that needs to be told," said Jim Bruns, director of the NNM, a sentiment that was echoed by John Sasse, supervisor of deep ocean search and recovery for the Navy.

"CURV-III's colorful history makes it more desirable to donate it for display than any of the other alternatives available to the Navy,"said Sasse.

CURV-III participated in the rescue of two crew members trapped in PISCES-III in 1973 off Ireland at a depth of 1,575 feet. In 1990 the submersible dove to 20,106 feet off of Puerto Rico, making it the first Navy recovery vehicle to go deeper than 6,000 meters CURV-III recovered a CH-47 helicopter off of Wake Island in 1992 from a depth of 17,251 feet, the world's record for deepest salvage at the time.

Over the years, CURV-III has participated in the recovery of countless black boxes and conducted many secret missions, recovering an array of important "lost" Cold War objects. The last assignment was the recovery of a downed royal Australian navy H-60 Blackhawk helicopter from 9,000 feet of water off the coast of Fiji in 2007.

CURV-III and its control consoles will become the cornerstones of the Cold War Gallery's new STEM Center, an interactive learning activity center devoted to science, technology, engineering and mathematics education. The Cold War Gallery was created with support from the Naval Historical Foundation, which will operate the new Cold War STEM Center.


For more news from Naval History and Heritage Command, visit www.navy.mil/local/navhist/. 

 

Goodbye, Timbuktoo

From Sydney Morning Herald: Timbuktu's tombs destroyed by militants

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A file picture of a mosque in Timbuktu. Photo: AFP

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

The rampage of destruction in the UNESCO designated world-heritage city comes after three months of unrest in Mali's remote desert north, which has raised fears of a new Islamist extremist haven in west Africa.
Ansar Dine and other Al-Qaeda-linked militant groups have imposed strict sharia law since sweeping across northern Mali in the chaotic aftermath of a March 22 coup in the capital, Bamako.

"They have raped Timbuktu today. It is a crime," said a source close to a local imam in Timbuktu, known as the "City of 333 Saints".

Witnesses said the Islamists, who regard shrines as idolatrous, had destroyed the tombs of Sidi Mahmoud, Sidi Moctar and Alpha Moya.

In addition to three historic mosques, Timbuktu is home to 16 cemeteries and mausoleums, according to the UNESCO website.

A spokesman for the group, Sanda Ould Boumama, vowed: "Ansar Dine will today destroy every mausoleum in the city. All of them, without exception."

Alissandra Cummins, the chair of UNESCO's executive committee, said: "This is tragic news for us all.
"I appeal to all those engaged in the conflict in Timbuktu to exercise their responsibility - for the sake of future generations, spare the legacy of their past."

Mali's government in Bamako denounced the "destructive fury", comparing it to war crimes and threatened action on the national and international level.

Former colonial power France condemned "the systematic violation of these places of reverence and prayer" and appealed "for an end to this violence and this intolerance".

A witness said that early Saturday morning, about "30 fighters of Ansar Dine moved towards the mausoleum of Sidi Mahmoud" in the city's north.

"Some had guns. They did not shoot. Then they started shouting 'Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar!' (God is greatest! God is greatest!) And with pick-axes and hoes, they started to break down the mausoleum."
The Ansar Dine spokesman suggested Saturday's action was in retaliation for a UNESCO decision on Thursday to put the World Heritage site, a cradle of Islamic learning founded in the fifth century, on its endangered list.

"God is unique. All of this is haram (forbidden in Islam). We are all Muslims. UNESCO is what?" he said, declaring that Ansar Dine was acting "in the name of God".

UNESCO's general director, Irina Bokova, confirmed that Islamist militants from the Ansar Dine group had destroyed three sacred tombs in Timbuktu, declaring in a statement that "there is no justification for such wanton destruction".

Witnesses in Timbuktu said that the gangs had destroyed the mausoleum of a saint whose 15th century tomb was already desecrated in May by members of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Magreb, another of the groups in control in the north.

The UN cultural agency said its decision to place both the town and the nearby Tomb of Askia in Gao on its List of World Heritage in Danger "aims to raise cooperation and support for the sites threatened by the armed conflict".