History of Timbuktu returning from a stay in the capital of the Mali Empire. Timbuktu was still relatively unimportant and Battuta quickly moved on to Gao. At the time both Timbuktu and Gao formed part of the Mali Empire. A century and a half later, in around 1510, Leo Africanus visited Timbuktu. He gave a description of the town in his "Descrittione dell'Africa" which was published in 1550. The original Italian was translated into a number of other languages and the book became widely known in Europe. The earliest surviving local documents are the 17th century chronicles, al-Sadi's "Tarikh al-Sudan" and Ibn al-Mukhtar's
Second Battle of Timbuktu A Malian soldier taking part in the fighting said, "The jihadists are a few. They sneaked into the military camp and the city of Timbuktu. There is shooting at the moment, but we'll get to the end." Timbuktu residents said as of that Sunday afternoon shooting could still be heard in the city. On Sunday morning, the Malian army launched operations to track down the infiltrated jihadists. By the mid-afternoon, heavy street-fighting left a Malian soldier and two jihadists dead. A French unit of around 50 soldiers were dispatched to reinforce the Malian army in Timbuktu, and got further back-up