UN says five bombs planted by ISIS years ago found hidden in Iraq's Al-Nuri mosque
File photo of the Al-Nuri mosque in Mosul.
The United Nations (UN) said on Friday (June 28) that it found five bombs planted by the Islamic State (ISIS)years ago in a wall of the iconicAl-Nuri mosque in Iraq's Mosul. Speaking to the news agency AFP, a UNESCO representative said that five "large-scale explosive devices, designed to trigger a massive destruction of the site," were found in the southern wall of the prayer hall on Tuesday (June 25).
According to UNESCO, these explosive devices were hidden inside a wall, which was "specially rebuilt around them: it explains why they could not be discovered when the site was cleared by Iraqi forces in 2020."
'Situation under control'
One bomb was removed, but four others remain connected to each otherand were expected to be cleared in the coming days, the agency said, adding that Iraqi armed forces immediately secured the area and the situation was under control.
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General Tahseen al-Khafaji, spokesperson for the Joint Operations Command of various Iraqi forces, confirmed the discovery of the explosives.
UNESCO working to restore the site
Al-Nuri mosque and the adjacent leaning minaret were destroyedduring the battle to retake Mosulfrom ISIS in 2017.Iraq's army accused the terroroutfit, which occupied the city for three years, of planting explosives at the site and blowing it up.
AFP reported that UNESCO has been working to restorethe site and other architectural heritage in Mosul.
It was from the Al-Nuri mosque that Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, the then-leader of IS, proclaimed the establishment of the group's "caliphate" in July 2014. ISIS terroriststook over large swathes of territory in Iraq and neighbouring Syria which they ruled with brutality.
But three years later,Iraqi forces backed by a US-led coalition drove ISIS out of Mosul.
(With inputs from agencies)