LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Violence in the country's north has continued to escalate. Unesco, the U.N.'s cultural agency, said both Timbuktu and the 17th Century Tomb of Askia, in the city of Gao, had been placed on its list of sites in danger.

Adding to this sense of urgency is that fact that Islamist forces have just seized Gao from Tuareg rebels.

Unesco has expressed concern about the looting and smuggling of artifacts from the two sites.

Mali's government had asked the U.N. to recognize the threat to the condition of its historical sites and the high risk of trafficking of cultural objects.

Timbuktu, located on the edge of the Sahara Desert, has many fine examples of impressive and distinctive architecture hundreds of years old, constructed mainly from mud and wood.

Timbuktu was a center of Islamic learning from the 13th to the 17th Centuries. In addition, 700,000 manuscripts survive in public libraries and private collections. Books on religion, law, literature and science in addition to letters between rulers, advisers and merchants on subjects as varied as taxation, commerce, marriage, divorce, adoption and prostitution.

The recent concern about Timbuktu's ancient sites was raised after a coup in March which overthrew the government.

Tuareg rebels and Islamist militants capitalized on the chaos and took control of the north of the country. An uneasy alliance between the two factions has all but collapsed.

Analysts say the two groups do not share the same ambitions, with the Tuaregs wanting secession and Islamist fighters all too eager to impose Sharia law in the poor West African state.

The Tomb of Askia, a pyramidal structure which was built in 1495, is the burial place of the Emperor Mohammad Askia, who led the Empire of Songhai, one of the most successful Islamic empires in history.

Al-Qaeda linked Islamist fighters were reported to have destroyed the tomb of a local Muslim saint in Timbuktu last month.

Some strict Islamists regard shines as idolatrous, while some Muslims, especially Sufis, regard them as an accepted part of Muslim worship.

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