Besieged fanatics blow up ancient mosque in Iraq

ISLAMIC State militants have blown up an ancient mosque in Mosul in a sign of their defeat in Iraq’s second city.

The jihadis destroyed the 12th century Great Mosque of al-Nuri, a key IS stronghold, rather than see it taken from them as pro-government troops advance.

The mosque was known for its 150ft leaning al-Habda minaret.

The black IS flag had been flying from the mosque for three years, ever since the group’s leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi used it to declare his self-styled Islamist caliphate in the summer of 2014.

Losing the mosque is a huge symbolic blow to the group.

IS said American aircraft had destroyed the complex, a claim denied by the US.

Iraqi prime minister Haider al-Abadi said yesterday: ‘Daesh’s bombing of the al-Hadba minaret and the al-Nuri Mosque is a formal declaration of their defeat.’

One witness, a labourer living in the neighborhood of Khazraj near the mosque, said: ‘In the early morning, I climbed up to my roof and was stunned to see the Hadba minaret had gone. I felt I had lost a son of mine.’

All that remains of the mosque is the base. A video on social media showed the minaret collapsing vertically, throwing up a pall of sand and dust.

Defence analysts said the decision to destroy the mosque could indicate the

Landmark: Great Mosque of al-Nuri militants are on the verge of collapse. ‘They had said they would fight until their last breath defending the mosque,’ Baghdad-based security expert Safaa al-Aasam said.

‘The fact is that they are no longer capable of standing in the face of Iraqi government forces.’

The United Nations’ education body UNESCO said the minaret and mosque had been ‘a symbol of identity, resilience and belonging’.

A US army spokesman said there were only two square kilometres left in Mosul that remain under IS control.