Battle of Timbuktu Battle of Timbuktu The Battle of Timbuktu occurred in Timbuktu, Mali, in March 2013, between Islamist groups and Mali government forces supported by France. On the night of March 20 to 21, a group of Islamist militants tried to infiltrate the airport. A car with armed men also tried to break into the city, however, French and Malian forces pushed them back. The city of Timbuktu was guarded by the Malian army while about 150 French soldiers guarded the airport. Then, about 50 to 100 islamists launched an attack from Bamba, west of Bourem, at March 20 at 10:19 pm.
Fall of Timbuktu (2012) international intervention to restore Bamako's writ; he was supported by Niger. It was also affirmed at the same forum by Ivory Coast, who had a similar external intervention during the 2010–2011 Ivorian crisis, and former imperial overlord France's Francois Hollande who supported an African intervention. The head of the Tombouctou Manuscripts Project at the University of Cape Town, Shamil Jeppie, said that the destruction was akin to that of the Buddhas of Bamiyan. "It's a real loss for people in the town, in the region and on the continent. Timbuktu was a center of Islamic learning, a very significant center