IS fighters
have blown up al Nouri mosque in Mosul, where the group's leader
declared the caliphate, the Iraqi military has said.
The Ministry of Defence said fighters had detonated
explosives inside the structures, destroying the mosque and its iconic
leaning minaret.
A statement from the commander of the Mosul
offensive, Staff Lieutenant General Abdulamir Yarallah, said the
explosion took place as Iraqi forces, which have been advancing in the
Old City, were within 50 metres of the building.
"The Daesh
(Islamic State) terror gangs committed another historical crime by
blowing up the al Nouri mosque and its historical al-Hadba minaret," the
statement said.
Image:2014: IS leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi preaches from the pulpit of al Nouri mosque
The medieval mosque, also known as Mosul's Great Mosque, is where IS
leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi declared a so-called Islamic caliphate in
2014. It was seen as a key symbolic prize in the fight for Mosul.
The minaret stood for more than 840 years.
IS has blamed a US strike for the mosque's destruction.
Sky
News chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay in Erbil, Iraq, said: "We spoke
to a senior commander who was on the ground and he said it was an
explosion on the ground, not an airstrike.
"He said there is a huge amount of fighting taking place around the mosque right now."
"The first pictures we've seen would suggest that it is almost completely destroyed and the famous minaret has gone."
Image:A view of the Great Mosque in April
Iraqi forces this week launched a push into Mosul's Old City, where
the last IS fighters are holed up with an estimated 100,000 civilians,
according to the UN.
The fight to retake Mosul was launched more than eight months ago and has displaced some 850,000 people.
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