ISIS destroyed Mosul‘s al-Nuri mosque and its iconic leaning minaret, known as al-Hadba, when fighters detonated explosives inside the structures, Iraq’s Ministry of Defense said. The mosque — also known as Mosul‘s Great Mosque — is where ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a so-called Islamic caliphate in 2014 shortly after the city was overrun by the militants. It was seen as a key symbolic prize in the fight for Iraq’s second-largest city. The minaret, which leaned like Italy’s Tower of Pisa, stood for more than 840 years.

First published in the June 21, 2017, 7:55 p.m. edition

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