Who blew the Nuri Mosque in which Bhagdadi declared himself 'Caliph'

The destruction of two of Mosul's best-known landmarks comes on the fourth day of an Iraqi offensive backed.

On Wednesday the iconic leaning minaret and an adjacent Nuri Mosque in Mosul, Iraq was blown up. Incidentally this was the same Mosque in which the Islamic State Chief, Abu Bakr al-Bhagdadi declared himself the Caliph in 2014.

While an Iraqi commander said that the Mosque and the minaret was blown up by the ISIS, the outfit however denied it. The outfit issued a statement on Amaq, its propaganda agency in which it blamed the US for the strike.

Our forces were advancing toward their targets deep in the Old City and when they got to within 50 metres of the Nuri mosque, Daesh (ISIS) committed another historical crime by blowing up the Nuri mosque and the Hadba" mosque, Staff Lieutenant General Abdulamir Yarallah, the overall commander of the Mosul offensive, said in a statement.

The destruction of two of Mosul's best-known landmarks comes on the fourth day of an Iraqi offensive backed by the US-led coalition to take the Old City, where holdout jihadists are making a bloody last stand.

OneIndia News