Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi said ISIL Takfiri group has sent an official declaration of its defeat in Mosul by bombing up Mosul’s Grand al-Nuri Mosque.

“It’s an official declaration of defeat,” the Iraqi PM said in a statement Wednesday.

ISIL terrorists blew up the city’s landmark mosque, where the terrorist group’s leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi announced the formation of a so-called “caliphate” after capturing the northern city in 2014.

Nineveh Liberation Operation Commander announced that the terrorists blew up the iconic mosque as elite Counter Terrorism Service units had reached within 50 meters of the insurgents.

“Our forces were advancing toward their targets deep in the Old City and when they got to within 50 meters (yards) of the Nuri mosque, Daesh committed another historical crime by blowing up the Nuri mosque and the Hadba” minaret, said Lieutenant General Abdul Amir Yarallah in a statement released on Wednesday night, referring to the Arabic acronym of ISIL.

The terrorists meanwhile, claimed that that the mosque was destroyed by a US airstrike, ISIL’s Amaq news agency reported. However, the US–led coalition spokesman Colonel John Dorrian denied the coalition carried out any strike in the area.

“The responsibility of this devastation is laid firmly at the doorstep of ISIL,” Dorrian added.

Source: Websites