Mosul’s iconic mosque hosts Eid al-Adha five years after being blown up by Islamic State

Hundreds of Muslims have prayed for Eid al Adha at Mosul’s iconic Al Nuri Mosque five years after it was blown up by militiamen of the Islamic State jihadist group.

The Umayyad temple, which dated back to the 12th century, was the scene of the proclamation of the Islamic State’s Caliphate in 2014, in an act starring Abu Bakr al Baghdadi.

However, it was destroyed three years later by the Islamic State itself in the face of advancing Iraqi government forces who finally put an end to territorial rule and the Caliphate itself in the months that followed.

The building is being reconstructed, including its renowned minaret, the Al Hadba or ‘Hunchback’, which also succumbed to the jihadist group’s explosives.

This Sunday marks exactly five years since the Iraqi government’s official declaration of the liberation of Mosul from jihadist militias.