Connect to share and comment * Fears for historic texts as
library burned * Ancient city bears brunt of Islamist
destruction * United Nations "horrified" By Pascal Fletcher and
Giles Elgood Jan 28 (Reuters) - The burning of a library housing
thousands of ancient manuscripts in Mali's desert city of
Timbuktu is just the latest act of destruction by Islamist
fighters who have spent months smashing graves and holy shrines
in the World Heritage site. The United Nations cultural body
UNESCO said it was trying to find out the precise damage done to
the Ahmed Baba Institute, a modern building that contains
priceless documents dating back to the 13th century. The
manuscripts are "uniquely valuable and testify to a long
tradition of learning and cultural exchange," said UNESCO
spokesman Roni Amelan. "So we are horrified." But if they are
horrified, historians and religious scholars are unlikely to
have been surprised by this gesture of defiance by Islamist
rebels fleeing the ancient trading post on the threshold of th