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.
Timbuktu to Timbuktu. Shabeni stayed in Timbuktu for three years before moving to a major city called Housa several days journey to the southeast. Two years later, he returned to Timbuktu to live there for another seven years – one of a population that was even centuries after its peak and excluding slaves, double the size of the 21st-century town. By the time Shabeni was 27, he was an established merchant in his hometown of Tetuan. He made a two-year pilgrimage to Mecca and thus became a hajji, Asseed El Hage Abd Salam Shabeeny. Returning from a trading voyage to Hamburg,