Iraqi commander: Mosul’s minaret was booby-trapped before explosion
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) A senior Iraqi army commander said Thursday that a historic minaret which exploded during battles between the Islamic State and government troops on Wednesday had already been booby-trapped, indirectly refuting the blame the group laid on U.S. warplanes.
Abdul-Ghani al-Assadi, commander of the army’s elite Counter-Terrorism Service, said in a press statement that the medieval Grand Nuri al-Kabir Mosque and its famous Hadbaa (leaning) Minaret had already been prepared for detonation once the group reached “total bankruptcy” as he put it.
Assadi said it had been Islamic State’s habit to detonate historic sites in Mosul, reminding that the militants had previously blown up the Nabi Yunis shrine in Mosul.
Assadi’s remarks come as Islamic State and the U.S.-led coalition backing Iraqi forces traded blame Wednesday for the explosion that brought down the historic structure which stands at the mosque where IS first declared the establishment of its rule in Iraq in 2014.
The minaret’s collapse came as CTS forces were 50 meters away from the mosque, partaking in an invasion by U.S.-backed Iraqi joint forces of the Old City, the ancient neighborhood where a few hundreds of IS members are entrenched as a last refuge in Mosul.
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in a statement by his office that Islamic State militants, by resorting to blowing up the historic site, were officially declaring their defeat.
Iraqi forces kill Islamic State’s explosives official near Mosul’s Old City
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi government forces killed on Thursday an Islamic State explosives official while moving inside a district adjacent to Mosul’s Old City, the group’s last bastion.
Shafaq News quoted security sources saying that troops killed Abu Furqan al-Maswseli along with 15 others at a house in al-Shifa district.
The Iraqi command said earlier this week its forces had consummated the recapture of al-Shifa, a home to major health and medical facilities, thus putting the medieval Old City under full siege.
Also on Thursday, Federal Police chief Shaker Jawdat said his forces killed 43 Islamic State members in Ras al-Jada and Bab al-Beed in the old city, and destroyed five booby-trapped vehicles.
Iraqi troops have advanced on Wednesday closer to the Grand Nuri al-Kabir Mosque, where Islamic State’s supreme leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared the establishment of the group’s rule in 2014. IS members blew up the mosque’s ancient minaret on Wednesday as troops advanced, a move which the Iraqi command said signalled an imminent defeat to the extremist group.
A few hundred militants are thought to remain inside the Old City, but are holding at least 100.000 civilians who are shot dead or caught and executed while trying to flee the neighborhood.