UN rights chief cites possible war crimes in Mali

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. human rights commissioner says Islamists in northern Mali have committed serious human rights violations and possibly war crimes, including amputations, summary executions and the stoning to death of an unmarried couple.

Navi Pillay on Monday strongly condemned the "attacks on the civilian population, sexual violence, recruitment of child soldiers and forced displacement, as well as the destruction of Mali's world heritage sites."

A spokesman for one of the radical Islamist groups controlling northern Mali told The AP on Sunday that their fighters cut off a thief's hand in Timbuktu.

It was at least the seventh amputation carried out by the rebel Islamists. It comes after last week's double amputation of five robbers in the northern city of Gao.