With its leaning minaret dominating Mosul’s skyline, the Grand al-Nuri Mosque was Pisa and the Eiffel Tower rolled into one for Iraqis. It featured on the most common national banknote, the 10,000-dinar (£6.75).
Yesterday, dawn rose over nothing but an ugly stump, as residents mourned the latest act of destruction by Islamic State. Isis claimed that the mosque had been brought down by a US air strike when it fell at 9.30 on Wednesday night. But the Iraqi armed forces released a video, taken from a drone or aeroplane, that captured the moment when explosives rigged throughout the mosque and up the side of the minaret brought it all crashing down. The explosions were clearly controlled. A drone photograph of the aftermath, showing the site
