A member of the Counter Terrorism Service stands at the positions of Iraqi forces at the Old City on June 29, 2017 in Mosul, Iraq.

Erik De Castro / Reuters</s>Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-30 07:56:49|Editor: Liangyu

Iraqi soldiers take a rest near al-Nuri mosque in the Old City of Mosul on June 29, 2017. Iraqi army recaptured Mosul's historical al-Nuri mosque and its leaning minaret on June 29. Built in 1172 A.D. and located at the heart of Mosul's Old City, al-Nuri mosque and its famous leaning minaret are considered as landmark building of Mosul, but it was destroyed by Islamic State militants on June 21.(Xinhua/Cheng Shuaipeng)</s>Mosul, Iraq: After eight months of grinding urban warfare, Iraqi government troops on Thursday captured the ruined mosque in Mosul from where Islamic State proclaimed its self-styled caliphate three years ago, the Iraqi military said.

Iraqi authorities expect the long battle for Mosul to end in the coming days as the remaining Islamic State fighters are now bottled up in just a handful of neighbourhoods of the Old City.

The seizure of the 850-year-old Grand al-Nuri Mosque is a huge symbolic victory for the Iraqi forces fighting to recapture Mosul, which had served as Islamic State’s de facto capital in Iraq.

The insurgents blew up the medieval mosque and its famed leaning minaret a week ago as US-backed Iraqi forces started a push in its direction. Their black flag had been flying from al-Hadba (The Hunchback) minaret since June 2014.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi “issued instructions to bring the battle to its conclusion,” his office said.

The fall of Mosul would in effect mark the end of the Iraqi half of the IS caliphate even though the hardline group would still control territory west and south of the city. Its capital in Syria, Raqqa, is also besieged by a US-backed Kurdish-led coalition.

The cost of the battle has been enormous, however. In addition to military casualties, thousands of civilians are estimated to have been killed.

About 900,000 people, nearly half the pre-war population of the northern city, have fled the battle, mostly taking refuge in camps or with relatives and friends, according to aid groups.

ALSO READ : Withered Islamic State ‘caliphate’ shorn of funds, IHS says

Those trapped in the city suffered hunger and deprivation as well as death or injury, and many buildings have been ruined.

Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) troops captured the al-Nuri Mosque’s ground in a “lightning operation” on Thursday, a commander of the US-trained elite units told state TV.

Civilians living nearby were evacuated in the past days through corridors, he added.

CTS units are now in control of the mosque area and the al-Hadba and Sirjkhana neighbourhoods and they are still advancing, a military statement said.

A US-led international coalition is providing air and ground support to the Iraqi forces fighting through the Old City’s maze of narrow alleyways.

But the advance remains an arduous task as the insurgents are dug in the middle of civilians, using mortar fire, snipers, booby traps and suicide bombers to defend their last redoubt.

The military estimated up to 350 militants were still in the Old City last week but many have been killed since.

They are besieged in one sq km (0.4 square mile) making up less than 40% of the Old City and less than one percent of the total area of Mosul, the largest urban centre over which they held sway in both Iraq and Syria.

Those residents who have escaped the Old City say many of the civilians trapped behind IS lines—put last week at 50,000 by the Iraqi military—are in a desperate situation with little food, water or medicines.

Baghdadi proclaimed himself “caliph,” or ruler of all Muslims, from the Grand al-Nuri Mosque’s pulpit on 4 July 2014, after the insurgents overran vast swathes of Iraq and Syria.

His speech from the mosque was the first time he revealed himself to the world and the footage broadcast then is to this day the only video recording of him as “caliph”.

He has left the fighting in Mosul to local commanders and is believed to be hiding in the border area between Iraq and Syria, according to US and Iraqi military sources.

Islamic State last week broadcast a video showing much of the mosque and brickwork minaret reduced to rubble. Only the stump of the Hunchback remained, and a dome of the mosque supported by a few pillars which resisted the blast.

The mosque was named after Nuruddin al Zanki, a noble who fought the early Crusaders from a fiefdom that covered territory in modern-day Turkey, Syria and Iraq. It was built in 1172-73, shortly before his death, and housed an Islamic school.

The Old City’s stone buildings date mostly from the medieval period. They include market stalls, a few mosques and churches, and small houses built and rebuilt on top of each other over the ages. Reuters</s>On Thursday, Iraqi forces captured what remains of the Great Mosque of al-Nuri in Mosul, and Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared the Islamic State caliphate finished. However, the militants still hold a large amount of Iraqi territory, including some within Mosul, and they will likely continue attacks into the future. Also captured on Thursday were the al-Saa’a Church and Omar al-Aswad Mosque.

The mosque became a focal point of the Islamic State exactly three years ago on June 29, 2014, when Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi announced the formation of his caliphate during a speech at the mosque. Last week, in a possible attempt to deny Iraq from using the recaptured mosque as a symbol of victory, Islamic State militants apparently destroyed it.

Canada extended its mission to fight the Islamic State for two more years. The country has about 200 special forces troops currently deployed in Iraq.

At least 975 people were killed and nine were wounded in recent days:

In Mosul, Dr. Saadullah Khafaf, a medical doctor working with the security forces, reported that over 200 civilians were killed either in crossfire or shot by the militants in the last week. About 100 have died of exposure. Meanwhile, Major Dhia Thamir admitted that hundreds more are lying dead under the rubble of destroyed buildings. A car bomb killed four civilians and an officer. At least 600 militants were killed during the capture of the Great Mosque. Another 69 militants were killed and five were wounded in southern areas. An ISIS/Daesh reporter was killed.

Four Peshmerga were wounded in a blast in Dibs.
• ISIS Executes Their Own; 12 Killed in Iraq – June 27th, 2017
• Heavy Fighting and Counterattacks in Mosul; 61 Killed in Iraq – June 26th, 2017</s>Iraq declared the Islamic State group's "caliphate" was coming to an end after it recaptured Mosul's iconic Nuri mosque Thursday, three years to the day after it was proclaimed by the jihadists.

The jihadist group announced its self-styled "caliphate" on June 29, 2014 across swathes of territory its fighters overran in Iraq and neighbouring Syria.

Its rule since then has been marked by repeated atrocities including mass beheadings and other executions documented in photos and videos that its supporters share online.

"Counter-Terrorism Service forces control the Nuri mosque and Al-Hadba (minaret)," Iraq's Joint Operations Command said in a statement.

Staff Lieutenant General Abdulghani al-Assadi, a senior CTS officer, also confirmed its recapture, telling state TV that "the mosque is (now) behind our units."

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi hailed the recapture of the mosque as a sign of IS's impending defeat.

"We are seeing the end of the fake Daesh state," Abadi said in an English statement on his Twitter account, using an Arabic acronym for IS.

The mosque and its famed Al-Hadba (hunchback) leaning minaret were Mosul landmarks and also held major significance in the history of IS rule in Iraq.

IS declared its "caliphate" in an audio recording three years ago.

A video released a few days later showed IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi speaking at Friday prayers at the Nuri mosque and calling on Muslims to obey him, his only known public appearance as "caliph".

Baghdadi's fate and whereabouts remain unknown, and IS has lost much of the territory it overran in 2014.

The jihadists blew up the mosque and minaret on June 21 as they put up increasingly desperate resistance to the advance of Iraqi forces.

Only the base of the minaret remains, and while the mosque's dome is still standing, much of the rest of it has been destroyed.

Officials from Iraq and the US-led anti-IS coalition said the destruction of the site was a sign of the jihadist group's imminent loss of Mosul, with Abadi calling it an "official declaration of defeat".

The loss of the iconic 12th century minaret -- one of the country's most recognisable monuments sometimes referred to as Iraq's Tower of Pisa -- left the country in shock.

But the destruction had been widely anticipated, with commanders saying IS would not have allowed Iraqi forces to score a hugely symbolic victory by recapturing the site.

IS claimed on its Amaq propaganda agency that the site was hit in a US air strike, but the US-led coalition said it was the jihadists who had "destroyed one of Mosul and Iraq's great treasures".

Russia has said it is seeking to verify whether the IS leader, whose whereabouts have been unknown for months, was killed when its warplanes hit the group's leaders in a night air raid in Syria last month.

The mosque in Mosul's Old City was the latest in a long list of priceless heritage and historical monuments destroyed by IS during its three-year rule over swathes of Iraq and Syria.

The minaret, which was completed in 1172 and had been listing for centuries, is featured on Iraq's 10,000-dinar banknote and was the main symbol of Iraq's second city -- giving its name to countless restaurants, companies and even sports clubs in Mosul.

After seizing Iraq's Sunni Arab heartland in June 2014, IS reportedly rigged Al-Hadba with explosives but was prevented from blowing it up by the local population. The jihadists consider the reverence of objects, including of such sites, as heresy.

The mosque's destruction came three days after government forces launched an assault on the Old City, the last district of Mosul still under IS control.

Tens of thousands of residents are believed to still be trapped in the district by IS, which has been using civilians as human shields to defend its last redoubt in Mosul.

The area still controlled by the jihadists is small but its narrow streets and the presence of so many civilians has made the operation perilous.

Dozens of civilians were brought out of the area of the Nuri mosque in military vehicles on Thursday.

"We don't believe that we made it alive," said Umm Karam, one of those who fled.</s>MOSUL, Iraq (AP) — Iraq’s Prime Minister is declaring an end to the Islamic State group’s self-proclaimed caliphate after Iraqi forces captured the compound of a landmark mosque in Mosul that was blown up last week.

Haider al-Abadi says “we are seeing the end of the fake Daesh state … we will not relent, our brave forces will bring victory,” according to a statement posted to Twitter Thursday where he used the Arabic acronym for IS.

The retaking of the al-Nuri mosque is a hugely symbolic win. The site is where IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi made his only public appearance in July 2014, declaring an Islamic “caliphate” on territory captured in Iraq and Syria.

Iraqi and coalition officials say IS fighters blew up the site last week, but IS blames a U.S. air strike for the destruction.

The advances Thursday come as the Iraqi troops are pushing deeper into the Old City, a densely populated neighborhood west of the Tigris River where IS fighters are making their last stand in Iraq’s second-largest city.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>Iraq's Prime Minister is declaring an end to the Islamic State group's self-proclaimed caliphate after Iraqi forces captured the compound of a landmark mosque in Mosul that was blown up last week. Haider al-Abadi says "we are seeing the end of the fake Daesh state ... we will not relent, our brave forces will bring victory," according to a statement posted to Twitter Thursday where he used the Arabic acronym for IS.

Start the conversation, or Read more at Yahoo!.</s>Iraqi forces captured on Thursday the wrecked historic mosque of Mosul in which Islamic State proclaimed its self-styled "caliphate" three years ago, an Iraqi military statement said.

MOSUL, Iraq: Iraqi forces captured on Thursday the wrecked historic mosque of Mosul in which Islamic State proclaimed its self-styled "caliphate" three years ago, an Iraqi military statement said.

Taking the Grand al-Nuri Mosque hands a symbolic victory to the Iraqi forces which have been battling for more than eight month to capture Mosul, the northern city that served as Islamic State's de facto capital in Iraq.

The insurgents blew up the medieval mosque and its landmark leaning minaret a week ago, as U.S.-backed Iraqi forces started a push in its direction. Their black flag had been floating on al-Hadba, the ''hunchback'' minaret, since June 2014.</s>MOSUL/ERBIL - After eight months of grinding urban warfare, Iraqi government troops on Thursday captured the ruined mosque in Mosul from where Islamic State proclaimed its self-styled caliphate three years ago, the Iraqi military said.

Iraqi authorities expect the long battle for Mosul to end in the coming days as the remaining Islamic State fighters are now bottled up in just a handful of neighbourhoods of the Old City.

The seizure of the 850-year-old Grand al-Nuri Mosque is a huge symbolic victory for the Iraqi forces fighting to recapture Mosul, which had served as Islamic State's de facto capital in Iraq.

"Their fictitious state has fallen," an Iraqi military spokesman, Brigadier General Yahya Rasool, told state TV.

The insurgents blew up the medieval mosque and its famed leaning minaret a week ago as US-backed Iraqi forces started a push in its direction. Their black flag had been flying from al-Hadba (The Hunchback) minaret since June 2014.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi "issued instructions to bring the battle to its conclusion," his office said.

The fall of Mosul would in effect mark the end of the Iraqi half of the IS caliphate even though the hardline group would still control territory west and south of the city. Its capital in Syria, Raqqa, is also besieged by a US-backed Kurdish-led coalition.

The cost of the battle has been enormous, however. In addition to military casualties, thousands of civilians are estimated to have been killed.

About 900,000 people, nearly half the pre-war population of the northern city, have fled the battle, mostly taking refuge in camps or with relatives and friends, according to aid groups.

Those trapped in the city suffered hunger and deprivation as well as death or injury, and many buildings have been ruined.

Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) troops captured the al-Nuri Mosque's ground in a "lightning operation" on Thursday, a commander of the US-trained elite units told state TV.

Civilians living nearby were evacuated in the past days through corridors, he added.

CTS units are now in control of the mosque area and the al-Hadba and Sirjkhana neighbourhoods and they are still advancing, a military statement said.

Other government units, from the army and police, were closing in from other directions.

An elite Interior Ministry unit said it freed about 20 children believed to belong to Yazidi and other minorities persecuted by the insurgents in a quarter north of the Old City.

A US-led international coalition is providing air and ground support to the Iraqi forces fighting through the Old City's maze of narrow alleyways.

But the advance remains an arduous task as the insurgents are dug in the middle of civilians, using mortar fire, snipers, booby traps and suicide bombers to defend their last redoubt.

The military estimated up to 350 militants were still in the Old City last week but many have been killed since.

They are besieged in one sq km (0.4 square mile) making up less than 40 percent of the Old City and less than one percent of the total area of Mosul, the largest urban centre over which they held sway in both Iraq and Syria.

Those residents who have escaped the Old City say many of the civilians trapped behind IS lines - put last week at 50,000 by the Iraqi military - are in a desperate situation with little food, water or medicines.

"Boys and girls who have managed to escape show signs of moderate malnutrition and carry psychosocial scars," the United Nations Children's Fund UNICEF said in a statement.

Thousands of children remain at risk in Mosul, it said. Baghdadi proclaimed himself "caliph," or ruler of all Muslims, from the Grand al-Nuri Mosque's pulpit on July 4, 2014, after the insurgents overran vast swathes of Iraq and Syria.

His speech from the mosque was the first time he revealed himself to the world and the footage broadcast then is to this day the only video recording of him as "caliph". He has left the fighting in Mosul to local commanders and is believed to be hiding in the border area between Iraq and Syria, according to US and Iraqi military sources.

Islamic State last week broadcast a video showing much of the mosque and brickwork minaret reduced to rubble. Only the stump of the Hunchback remained, and a dome of the mosque supported by a few pillars which resisted the blast.

The mosque was named after Nuruddin al?Zanki, a noble who fought the early Crusaders from a fiefdom that covered territory in modern-day Turkey, Syria and Iraq. It was built in 1172-73, shortly before his death, and housed an Islamic school.

The Old City's stone buildings date mostly from the medieval period. They include market stalls, a few mosques and churches, and small houses built and rebuilt on top of each other over the ages.

The Iraqi state's failure to prevent Islamic State from overtaking as much as a third of the country in 2014 is fueling arguments in favour of greater self-determination of Christian and other minorities it failed to protect.

A group of Assyrian, Chaldean and Syriac Christians published a document on Thursday after a conference in Brussels this week calling for the self-governance of Christians in the Nineveh Plains east and north of Mosul, where they have a strong presence.</s>Mosul: Iraqi government troops recaptured captured the historic mosque in Mosul from where Islamic State proclaimed its self-styled caliphate three years ago, the Iraqi military said on Thursday.

Seizing the 850 year-old Grand al-Nuri Mosque hands a symbolic victory to the Iraqi forces who have been battling for more than eight month to recapture Mosul, the northern city that served as Islamic State`s de facto capital in Iraq.

"Their fictitious state has fallen," an Iraqi military spokesman, Brigadier General Yahya Rasool, told state TV referring to ISIS.

The insurgents blew up the medieval mosque and its famed leaning minaret a week ago as US-backed Iraqi forces started a push in its direction.

Their black flag had been flying from al-Hadba (The Hunchback) minaret, since June 2014.

Iraqi authorities expect the battle to end in the coming days as Islamic State has been bottled up in a handful of neighborhoods of the Old City.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi "issued instructions to bring the battle to its conclusion," his office said on Wednesday.
Iraq Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declares the end of the Islamic State's self-declared caliphate following the capture of the Great Mosque of al-Nuri in Mosul.