Mail's Ansar Dine Islamist group on Saturday destroyed mausoleums in Timbuktu, which was classified as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1988, witnesses said.

Two of the mausoleums have been destroyed since 5:00 a.m. Saturday morning by the Ansar Dine group, witnesses told Xinhua reporters.

Witnesses said the rebels are continuing to destroy the rest of the 16 mausoleums.

Ansar Dine, which wants to impose sharia (Islamic law) across all of Mali, says Timbuktu's famed shrines to local saints are un- Islamic.

The Mali authorities requested the UNESCO to place Timbuktu on its list of heritage sites in danger after the group and other separatist rebels seized the northern part of the western Africa state in April. The UNESCO accepted Mali's request this week.

During its 12th session in December 1988, the World Heritage Committee selected parts of Timbuktu's historic center for inscription on its World Heritage list.

The selection was based on three criteria: Its holy places were vital to early Islamization in Africa; Its Mosques show a cultural and scholarly Golden Age during the Songhay Empire; The construction of the mosques, still mostly original, shows the use of traditional building techniques.

Timbuktu, with a population of 54,000, is the capital of the Timbuktu region.

Following the military coup in Mali, Timbuktu was captured by the Tuareg rebels and Ansar Dine in earlier April.