MALI UNWED COUPLE STONED TO DEATH

A couple who had sex outside marriage have been stoned to death by Islamists in the town of Aguelhok in northern Mali, officials say.

The man and woman were buried up to their necks, then pelted with stones until they died.

The northern half of Mali has been overrun by rebels - Tuareg and Islamist - following a coup in Mali's capital.

Aguelhok in the region of Kidal was one of the first to be captured by Tuareg separatist rebels.

The Islamists in Aguelhok stoned the couple to death in front of about 200 people, officials said.

"I was there. The Islamists took the unmarried couple to the centre of Aguelhok. The couple was placed in two holes and the Islamists stoned them to death," a local government official told the AFP news agency.

"The woman fainted after the first few blows," he said, adding that the man had shouted out once and then fallen silent.

TIMBUKTU HAS NOW BECOME A GHOST TOWN

While the interim government is busy battling with the soldiers who overthrew the previous administration in March, the picture in the north grows darker.

What began as a rebellion in January by ethnic Tuareg has been usurped by Islamist militant groups who have taken advantage of the coup and imposed Sharia in most of the key towns in the north.

Music has been banned from local radios, women face being beaten if they are seen with their heads uncovered and people have been whipped in public for various misdemeanours.

source: BBC NEWS