Islamists in Timbuktu cut o man’s hand

The Islamist commander who seized control of Timbuktu this week has imposed a harsh regime of sharia law on the city, leading by example by cutting a man’s hand o in public.

Ayad Ag Ghaly, leader of the faction of tribal Tuareg fighters that is allied to al-qaida, was reported to have carried out the sentence on an unnamed “vandal” in the ancient city in Mali, western Africa.

Ousmane Halle, the mayor of Timbuktu, said almost all of the city’s 300 Christians had fled after Ag Ghaly announced that sharia law would be enforced.

Ag Ghaly told local radio that women should be covered at all times. He warned thieves would have their hands cut off and adulterers would be stoned.

His faction, named Ansar al-din, and its al-qaida allies won control of the urban centres of northern Mali after a regional uprising in the wake of a military coup that deposed the country’s elected government.

While another faction of the Tuareg rebellion, the National Movement for the Liberation of the Azawad, announced a ceasefire Thursday in response to international appeals, the extremists consolidated their grip on key cities. Algeria said its consulate in Gao, another town under Ansar al-din’s control, had been overrun. The consul and six sta had been taken hostage.

While international concern has focused on the restoration of democracy, fears that al-qaida has gained a safe haven in the north have emerged with the fall of Timbuktu, Gao and Kidal.