Timbuktu man lashed 40 times for drinking alcohol as Islamic extremists tighten grip on Mali

London, July 17 (ANI): A Timbuktu man was lashed 40 times for consuming alcohol, by an Islamic group that has seized the north Malian city and imposed strict Islamic laws there.

The Islamist group Ansar Dine (Defenders of Faith) is one of several Al-Qaeda-linked insurgent groups that seized northern Mali amid a power vacuum opened by a March 22 military coup in the south.

"A young man has just been lashed 40 times for drinking alcohol. The whipping took place in the Timbuktu market. He is injured and was taken to hospital," the Daily Mail quoted a resident, as saying, on the condition on anonymity.

The groups have reportedly been imposing Sharia law throughout the territory, and aim to spread the strict Islamic law to the rest of Mali.

In another incident, a man and woman, who were accused of having a child out of wedlock, were given 100 lashes each in Timbuktu on June 20.

The group has also demolished most of the ancient city's shrines to Muslim saints, which the jihadists consider idolatrous.

The Islamists' growing reach has drawn a lot of concern for the landlocked West African nation of 15.4 million, which was plunged into chaos after the coup. (ANI)