American coalition stated that it did not bomb the territory at a mosque in Mosul
WASHINGTON, 22 Aug — RIA Novosti. The international coalition led by the United States conducted bombing in the area of the mosque an-Nuri in the Iraqi city of Mosul, said Thursday the official representative of the coalition, Colonel John Dorrian.
Previously, the Agency France Press reported that the terrorist group “Islamic state” (banned in Russia) was accused of destruction of mosques of the United States.
“We did not bomb this area”, — he said to Reuters.
In turn, the commander of ground operations of coalition General Joseph Martin described the destruction of mosques “crime against the people of Mosul and the people of Iraq.” According to him, “the responsibility for this lies fully on IG”. He also promised to continue to “support our Iraqi partners in their efforts to bring the terrorists to justice.”
In addition, the statement of the headquarters of the coalition says that it is working with Iraqi partners on cleaning the territory of Mosul and the country from the militants. In this regard, it is clarified that, with its support, government forces managed to liberate from ISIS 47 thousand square kilometers of territory.
Earlier Wednesday, the Iraqi military said that the militants blew up the main mosque of Mosul al-Nouri and minaret. According to the commander of the operation to liberate the province of Nineveh, Masjid an-Nuri and minaret al Hadba militants blew up when the Iraqi military moved into the city, reaching convincing victories over the ISIS gangs. The Iraqi army later posted on his Facebook account a photograph of the destroyed mosque.
The mosque is located in the old town in the West of Mosul, in the ongoing decisive battle. In July 2014, the leader of the Islamic state group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi said in the mosque speech in which he proclaimed the creation of an international “Caliphate” and declared himself its head.