Shock and anger in Mosul as Islamic State destroys historic mosque
Mosul/Baghdad, Iraq — The leaning al-Habda minaret that has towered over Mosul for 850 years lay in ruins on Thursday, demolished by retreating Islamic State (IS) militants, but Iraq’s prime minister said the act marked their final defeat in the country’s second city. "In the early morning, I climbed up to my roof and was stunned to see the Hadba minaret had gone," Nashwan, a day-labourer living in Khazraj neighbourhood near the mosque, said by phone. "I felt I had lost a son." His words echoed the shock and anger of many over the destruction of the Grand al-Nuri Mosque along with its famous minaret, known affectionately as "the hunchback" by Iraqis. The demolition came on Wednesday night as Iraqi forces closed in on the mosque, which carried enormous symbolic importance for IS. Its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi used it in 2014 to declare a "caliphate" as militants seized swathes of of Syria and Iraq. His black flag had been flying on the 45m minaret since June 2014, after IS fighters...
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