Islamic State blows up landmark Grand al-Nuri Mosque in Mosul - Iraqi military statement

Record ID: 896370

  • Title: Islamic State blows up landmark Grand al-Nuri Mosque in Mosul - Iraqi military statement
  • Date: 21st June 2017
  • Summary: MOSUL, IRAQ (FILE - APRIL 4, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF AL-NURI MOSQUE MINARET / ISLAMIC STATE FLAG / DESTROYED BUILDINGS /AUDIO OF GUNFIRE NURI MOSQUE MINARET / IS FLAG MOSUL, IRAQ (FILE - MARCH 15, 2017) (REUTERS) AL-HABDA MINARET, GRAND MOSUL MOSQUE
  • Embargoed: 5th July 2017 20:56
  • Keywords: Nuri mosque Mosul Habda minaret Islamic State ISIS Iraq explosion destroyed
  • Location: MOSUL, IRAQ
  • City: MOSUL, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: Bombing (non-military),Conflicts/War/Peace
  • Reuters ID: LVA0036M83ZUV
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Islamic State militants blew up on Wednesday (June 21) the Grand al-Nuri Mosque of Mosul and its famous leaning minaret, an Iraqi military statement said.
    It was from this medieval mosque that the militants' leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a self-styled "caliphate" spanning parts of Syria and Iraq three years ago.
    Islamic State's Amaq news agency accused American aircraft of destroying the mosque.
    The explosions happened as Iraq's elite Counter Terrorism Service units, which have been battling their way through Mosul's Old City, got to within 50 meters (164 ft) of the mosque, the statement said.
    The Iraqi military's media office distributed a picture taken from the air that appears to show the mosque and minaret flattened in the middle of the small houses of the Old City, the historic district where the militants are besieged.
    Iraqi forces earlier on Wednesday said they had started a push towards the mosque. A U.S.-led coalition is providing air and ground support to the Mosul offensive which began in October 2016.
    The forces had encircled on Tuesday the jihadist group's stronghold in the Old City, the last district under their control in Mosul.
    Al-Baghdadi proclaimed himself "caliph," or ruler of all Muslims, from the pulpit of the mosque on July 4, 2014, after the insurgents overran parts of Iraq and Syria. His black flag had been flying over its 150-foot (45-metre) leaning minaret since June 2014.
    Iraqi officials had privately expressed the hope that the mosque could be captured in time for Eid al-Fitr, the festival marking the end of Ramadan, the Muslim fasting month. The first day of the Eid falls this year on June 25 or 26 in Iraq.
    The fall of Mosul would, in effect, mark the end of the Iraqi half of the "caliphate" even though Islamic State would continue to control territory west and south of the city, the largest they had control of in both Iraq and Syria.
    Baghdadi has left the fighting in Mosul to local commanders and is believed to be hiding in the border area between Iraq and Syria, according to U.S. and Iraqi military sources.
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