Taking advantage of Malian disarray, Ansar Dine and MNLA proceeded to take the towns of Kidal, Gao, and Timbuktu within the following ten days.
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The Agence France-Presse reported that Ansar Dine claimed to occupy the towns of Tinzaouaten, Tessalit, and Aguelhok, all close to the Algerian border, and that they had captured at least 110 civilian and military prisoners.
Jim Dine | Osbat al-Ansar | Ansar Dine | Ansar Burney | Ansar al-Islam | S. S. Van Dine | Ansar ul-Islam | Ansar | Two figures dine at the ''Nouvelle Athènes''. ''L'Absinthe | Suzana Ansar | Muntada al-Ansar | Dine and dash | 'Celebrity Come Dine With Me' | Ansar, Lebanon | Ansar (Islam) |
During the Northern Mali conflict in 2012, the main Tuareg rebel group, the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) lost the region to the Islamist groups Ansar Dine, Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MOJWA) and Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).
Extremist worshippers of Islam have been responsible for some reprehensible acts in Mali, most notably what has been nicknamed the Battle of Gao, in which an extremist Muslim group, Ansar Dine began to destroy various World Heritage Sites.