MOSUL — Daesh militants blew up on Wednesday 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.
“The Daesh terror gangs committed another historical crime by blowing up the Al-Nuri mosque and its historical Al-Hadba minaret,” the Iraqi military statement said.
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. — Reuters
