UNITED NATIONS - The UN Security Council has passed a resolution calling for sanctions against al-Qaeda-linked fighters in Mali blamed for the desecration of the tombs of Muslim saints.
But the council held back from giving a UN mandate to a proposed West African force to help the interim government to take back territory from Islamist rebels in the north of the country.
The 15-nation council unanimously passed Resolution 2056, which called on UN states to submit names of individuals and groups linked to al-Qaeda "notably in the north of Mali" for sanctions.
The UN has an al-Qaeda sanctions committee that imposes an assets freeze and travel ban on targets. Most of the names on the list now are linked to the Afghanistan war.
Islamist fighters, linked to al-Qaeda, have destroyed the tombs of several Muslim saints in the northern city of Timbuktu.
The UN resolution warned the desecration could lead to International Criminal Court charges.
The council expressed "deep concern" at the increased terrorist threat in northern Mali because of the presence of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) fighters.
The group has been blamed for kidnappings and attacks in several west and north African countries. West African nations have been pressing for UN backing for a proposed intervention force they want to send to Mali, where a military coup on March 22 was followed by the rebel breakthrough in the north of the country.
The hardline Ansar Dine (Defenders of Faith), which is allied to AQIM, has taken over much of northern Mali and carried out the destruction in Timbuktu.