A Malian jihadist on Monday asked the people of Mali for "forgiveness" after he pleaded guilty to ordering the 2012 attacks on the fabled site of Timbuktu.

"I seek their forgiveness and I ask them to look at me as a son who lost his way," Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi told the International Criminal Court, as his unprecedented trial got under way in The Hague, adding he was "really sorry" and regretted "the damage my actions have caused."