lamic State (IS) terrorists have destroyed the 12th-century Al-Nuri Mosque in the Iraqi city of Mosul, the media reported.
In a message distributed by jihadist news agency Amaq, the IS claimed that the mosque was destroyed in a bombardment by the coalition fighting to retake Mosul from them.
IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was proclaimed an Islamic caliphate on June 29, 2014 in Al-Nuri Mosque shortly after his forces conquered what was then a city of 2 million inhabitants.
The effort to reclaim Mosul from IS began in October 2016 and last Monday saw the start of a final push by the Iraqi Army and its allies against the jihadists.
A commander of Iraq’s counter terrorism forces, Sami Kadem al-Aridi said that “government troops came to within ‘dozens of meters (yards)’ of the mosque earlier Wednesday after hours of intense combat that began before dawn”.
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