Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) jihadists reportedly blew up Mosul's iconic leaning minaret and the adjacent mosque on Thursday, where their leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a "caliphate" in his only public appearance in 2014, an Iraqi commander said.
The ISIS swiftly issued a statement via its Amaq propaganda agency blaming a US strike.
Refuting ISIS’ claim, Staff Lieutenant General Abdulamir Yarallah, overall commander of the Mosul offensive, said in a statement:
Our forces were advancing toward their targets deep in the Old City and when they got to within 50 metres (yards) of the Nuri mosque, Daesh (IS) committed another historical crime by blowing up the Nuri and Hadba mosque.
Conflicting Reports
With both agencies involved in the attack blaming the other for the destruction of the mosque, the truth remains elusive.
According to a tweet-storm initiated by New York Times correspondent Rukmini Callimichi, the US-led coalition was planning to take over the mosque.
She added that the ISIS uses mosques solely for battle purposes, particularly for storing arms and as bomb factories.
Moments after the attack, the ISIS put out a disclaimer on their news wire Amaq, alleging that the US blew up the minaret.
The US-led coalition too released a statement saying that the “responsibility is laid firmly at the doorstep of the ISIS”.
Meanwhile, defence analysts told Reuters that the destruction of the mosque, which carried enormous symbolic importance for ISIS, could in fact speed up operations to drive Islamic State out of what had been its chief Iraqi stronghold.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on his website said:
Blowing up the al-Hadba minaret and the al-Nuri mosque amounts to an official acknowledgement of defeat.
Analysts also agreed that the decision to destroy the mosque could indicate that the militants are on the verge of collapse.
"They had said they would fight until their last breath defending the mosque," Baghdad-based security expert Safaa al-A’sam told Reuters. "The fact is that they are no longer capable of standing in the face of Iraqi government forces."
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 on the Old City, where holdout jihadists are attempting a bloody last stand.
It adds to a long list of Iraqi heritage sites and monuments the jihadist organisation has destroyed in Iraq and Syria since Baghdadi created his "caliphate", almost three years ago.
(with inputs from PTI and Reuters)
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