Image copyright Iraqi Joint Operation Command Image caption The Iraqi military provided this image showing the destruction at the mosque compound

So-called Islamic State (IS) has blown up the Great Mosque of al-Nuri in Mosul, Iraqi forces say. Nuri mosque adds to a long list of Iraqi heritage sites and monuments the jihadist organisation has destroyed in Iraq and Syria

Jihadists blew up Mosul's iconic leaning minaret and the adjacent mosque where their leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in 2014 declared himself "caliph" in his only public appearance, Iraqi officials said. "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 mosque and the Hadba" mosque, Staff Lieutenant General Abdulamir Yarallah, the overall commander of the Mosul offensive, said in a statement.
ISIL militants reportedly blow up the Great Mosque of al-Nuri in Mosul, where Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi famously proclaimed the creation of a caliphate in 2014. ISIL blames a U.S. airstrike.