An unprecedented trial opened on Monday at the world's only permanent war crimes court with an alleged Malian jihadist due to plead guilty to attacking the fabled city of Timbuktu.

Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi is the first Islamic extremist charged by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague and the first person to face a solo allegation of cultural destruction following the 2012 attacks which ravaged the ancient site in northern Mali. He is also expected to be the first person to plead guilty at the ICC.