Islamist rebels occupying the ancient city of Timbuktu in Mali have vowed to smash every mausoleum, in the face of international protests.
A spokesman for the Ansar Dine group, Sanda Ould Boumama, said it would "destroy every mausoleum in the city - all of them, without exception".
The centuries-old shrines to Islamic saints, revered by Sufi Muslims, are regarded as idolatrous by the group.
Three mausoleums were reportedly destroyed by the militants on Saturday.
Eyewitnesses say militants equipped with tools such as chisels and hoes gathered on Sunday at another site, shouting "Allahu Akbar" ("God is Great").
Mali's Culture and Tourism Minister, Diallo Fadima Toure, urged the UN to take action to stop "crimes" against her country's architectural treasures.
Ansar Dine, which has ties to al-Qaeda, seized northern Mali in March, in tandem with ethnic Tuareg rebels.
However, the alliance between the two groups has frayed and the Islamists now say they control the territory after driving out their former allies.
Another spokesman for Ansar Dine, Oumar Ould Hamaha, told Reuters news agency by phone: "We are subject to religion and not to international opinion
"Building on graves is contrary to Islam. We are destroying the mausoleums because it is ordained by our religion."
A local journalist told AFP news agency on Sunday that the Islamists were planning to smash four mausoleums in the cemetery at the 14th-Century Djingareyber mosque.
"There are many of us watching them destroy the mausoleum," the journalist said on condition of anonymity.
"It hurts but we can't do anything. These madmen are armed, we can't do anything but they will be cursed that is for sure."
Reuters quoted a journalist as saying three mausoleums had been destroyed on Sunday but it was unclear if they were those at Djingareyber.
In another development, a Timbuktu resident told AFP on Sunday the Islamists had also threatened to destroy mosques.
"This morning the Islamists told us that if there are saints inside the mosques, they will also destroy these mosques," the unnamed resident said.
Mali's government condemned the "destructive fury, comparable to war crimes" and a meeting of the UN's cultural body, Unesco, heard a call to respect Mali's heritage sites.
"I appeal to all those engaged in the conflict in Timbuktu to exercise their responsibility," Unesco session chairwoman Yeleonor Mitrofanova said at the conference in the Russian city of St Petersburg.
"For the sake of future generations, spare the legacy of their past."
Ansar Dine is reportedly made up of Islamist fighters from Mali and other African states including Algeria and Nigeria.
"What shocks me the most is the presence of foreigners among them who do it with mockery while shouting Allah Akbar," Timbuktu resident Hamed Mohamed told Reuters.
"For me it is a declaration of war and a crime against our cultural heritage. It is time that the international community helped us."
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