Mosul mosque that was centerpiece of ISIS declaration 3 years ago gets destroyed….. By ISIS – PB/TK
Islamic State blows up historic Mosul mosque where it declared ‘caliphate’: Iraqi military – By Marius Bosch and Maher Chmaytelli / June 21 2017
Islamic State militants on Wednesday blew up the Grand al-Nuri Mosque of Mosul and its famous leaning minaret, an Iraqi military statement said, as Iraqi forces seeking to expel the group from the city closed in on the site.
It was from this medieval mosque three years ago that the militants’ leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a self-styled “caliphate” spanning parts of Syria and Iraq.
Islamic State’s Amaq news agency accused American aircraft of destroying the mosque, a claim swiftly denied by the U.S.-led international coalition fighting the hardline Sunni group.
“We did not strike in that area,” coalition spokesman U.S. Air Force Colonel John Dorrian told Reuters by phone.
“The responsibility of this devastation is laid firmly at the doorstep of ISIS,” said a statement from the commander of the coalition’s ground
Continue to reuters.com article: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-mosul-mosque-idUSKBN19C2Q1
