Ancient mosque blown up as IS targets ‘idols’

ISLAMIC State has destroyed Mosul’s al-Nuri mosque and its iconic leaning minaret known as al-Hadba when fighters detonated explosives inside the structures.

The mosque — also known as Mosul’s Great Mosque — is where IS leader Abu Bakr alBaghdadi declared a so-called Islamic caliphate in 2014 shortly after the city was overrun by the militants.

The mosque was seen as a key symbolic prize in the fight for Iraq’s second largest city. The minaret that leaned like Italy’s Tower of Pisa stood for more than 840 years.

IS claimed an air strike carried out by the United States destroyed the mosque and minaret.

IS fighters initially attempted to destroy the minaret in July 2014. The militants said the structure contradicted their fundamentalist interpretation of Islam, but Mosul residents converged on the area and formed a human chain to protect it.

IS demolished dozens of historic and archaeological sites in and around Mosul, saying they promoted idolatry.

The mosque sat on the southern edge of the Old City, the last IS stronghold inside Mosul.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi tweeted yesterday that the destruction was an admission by the militants that they are losing the fight for Iraq’s second-largest city.

“Daesh’s bombing of the alHadba minaret and the alNuri Mosque is a formal declaration of their defeat,” alAbadi said, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group.

Iraqi forces launched a push into the Old City earlier this week, but have made slow progress as the last IS fighters there are holed up with an estimated 100,000 civilians according to the United Nations.

Earlier this month Mosul residents reported IS fighters began sealing off the area around the mosque and ordering families living nearby to evacuate in preparation for a final stand.

The fight to retake Mosul was launched more than eight months ago and has displaced more than 850,000 people.