Saved from militants, Timbuktu's famed manuscripts return home after 13 years in Mali's capital

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — The Malian military government on Monday started returning home the historic manuscripts of Timbuktu , which were spirited out of their fabled northern city when it was occupied by al-Qaida-linked militants more than a decade ago.

Islamic radicals destroyed more than 4,000 manuscripts , some dating back to the 13th century, after they seized Timbuktu in 2012, according to the findings of a United Nations expert mission. They also destroyed nine mausoleums and a mosque’s door — all but one of the buildings on the UNESCO World Heritage list.

The majority of the documents dating back to the 13th century — more than 27,000 — were saved by the devotion of the Timbuktu library’s Malian custodians, who carried them out of the occupied city in rice sacks, on donkey carts,