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WORLD NEWS Friday 2 June 2017
In Iraq, IS seals off area around symbolic mosque in Mosul

By SINAN SALAHEDDIN promote idolatry.
Associated Press “The militants are not mov-
BAGHDAD (AP) — Islamic ing in groups anymore, we
State group militants have see one or two from time
blocked the area around to time in the streets as a
a highly symbolic mosque majority of them are mov-
in Mosul’s Old City where ing through the houses, us-
the group’s leader made ing the holes they made in
his first and only public ap- the walls,” he told The As-
pearance in 2014, a resi- sociated Press, speaking on
dent said Thursday. condition of anonymity for
The move came as U.S.- fear for his safety.
backed Iraqi forces are According to U.N. esti-
pushing to recapture the mates, more than 100,000
city’s remaining pockets. people are still trapped in
The militants have ordered their houses in IS-held ar-
families living near al-Nuri eas. Mosul’s Old City is an
mosque — also known as ancient district of narrow al-
the Great Mosque — to leyways and tightly packed
leave their houses and homes, two main challeng-
sealed all the roads lead- es to security forces.
ing to it, said the resident “We are dying slowly with
who lives in the IS-held sec- no water and no food,”
tions of Mosul. In this June 8, 2009 photo, residents walk past the tilted minaret of al-Nuri mosque — also known the resident said of the de-
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi de- as the Great Mosque — in Mosul, Iraq. A resident in the Islamic State-held Mosul’s Old City says teriorated situation in their
livered a Friday sermon in the militants have blocked the area around the highly symbolic mosque where the group’s leader areas.
al-Nuri mosque in 2014 af- Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi made his first and only public appearance. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo) Meanwhile on Thursday,
ter IS seized almost a third the U.N. special mission to
of Iraq and declared an The iconic 840-year-old struction by IS militants as it up. The extremists demol- Iraq said violence killed
Islamic “caliphate” on terri- “Crooked Minaret,” which residents formed a human ished dozens of historic and at least 354 civilians and
tory it controlled in Iraq and leans somewhat like Italy’s chain to protect it when archaeological sites in and wounded 470 others in Iraq
neighboring Syria. Tower of Pisa, survived de- the militants came to blow around Mosul, saying they last month. q