22.06.2017, Iraq.
The mosque of the 12th century, in which the “Caliphate” was proclaimed three years ago, is destroyed by ISIL (organization banned in Russia) militants to mark their defeat, said Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi on June 22, Associated Press reports.
“Destruction of the Al-Hadba Minaret and the Al-Nuri Mosque by the ISIL [organization banned in Russia – editor’s note] militants is the official declaration of their defeat,” Al-Abadi said. According to him, militants admit that they are losing the battle for Mosul.
The Al-Nuri Mosque, also known as the Great Mosque of Al-Nuri (Mosul), where terrorist leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi proclaimed the so-called “Islamic Caliphate” in 2014, was destroyed with a blast from the inside. Militants blew up the Mosque during the Laylat Al-Qadr (“Night of Power”), when Islam celebrates commemoration of the night the Quran was sent to the Prophet Muhammad.
In July, 2014 militants have already tried to blow up the Mosque’s minaret, aging over 840 years. As the result of the explosion, the Al-Hadba Minaret has leaned the same way as the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy. Militants grounded their actions saying that the Minaret contradicts their fundamentalist interpretation of Islam, but the Mosul residents gathered at the Square and made a live chain to protect the Minaret.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency