ISIS destroys shrines, Shiite mosques in Iraq
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Pictures posted on the Internet by the Islamic State of Iraq
and Syria (ISIS) showed Sufi shrines were demolished by bulldozers. (Photo:
Twitter)
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AFP, BAGHDAD
Saturday, 5 July 2014
Jihadists who overran Mosul last month have
demolished ancient shrines and mosques in and around the historic northern
Iraqi city, residents and social media posts said Saturday.
At least four shrines to Sunni
Arab or Sufi figures have been demolished, while six Shiite mosques, or
husseiniyahs, have also been destroyed, across militant-held parts of northern Nineveh province, of which Mosul is the capital.
Pictures posted on the Internet
by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) showed the Sunni and Sufi shrines
were demolished by bulldozers, while the Shiite mosques and shrines were all
destroyed by explosives.
The photographs were part of an
online statement titled “Demolishing shrines and idols in the state of Nineveh.”
Local residents confirmed that
the buildings had been destroyed and that militants had occupied two cathedrals
as well.
“We feel very sad for the
demolition of these shrines, which we inherited from our fathers and
grandfathers,” said Ahmed, a 51-year-old resident of Mosul.
“They are landmarks in the city.”
An employee at Mosul’s Chaldean cathedral said militants had
occupied both it and the Syrian Orthodox cathedral in the city after finding
them empty.
They removed the crosses at the
front of the buildings and replaced them with the Islamic State’s black flag,
the employee said.
ISIS-led militants overran Mosul last month and swiftly took control of much of the
rest of Nineveh, as well as parts of four other
provinces north and west of Baghdad,
in an offensive that has displaced hundreds of thousands and alarmed the
international community.
The city, home to two million
residents before the offensive, was a Middle East
trading hub for centuries, its name translating loosely as “the junction.”
Though more recently populated
mostly by Sunni Arabs, Mosul and Nineveh were also home to
many Shiite Arabs as well as ethnic and religious minorities such as Kurds,
Turkmen, Yazidis and other sects.
Last Update: Saturday, 5 July
2014 KSA 14:55 - GMT 11:55
