In a shocking discovery, five big bombs were planted at a Mosque al-Nuri in Mosul- a city in northern Iraq. The mosque, which once stood majestically as a splendid example of the history and the culture of the region, was destroyed by the outlawed armed group, ISIL or ISIS, in the year 2017.
UNESCO, the United Nations Cultural Organisation, stated that these dynamites were buried carefully in the part of the mosque’s reconstructed southern pillar. Local security forces were informed immediately; the location was cordoned off and taped.
The administration successfully deactivated one of them and physically removed it; the remaining four are interlinked and planned to be neutralized in the next few days.
The Al-Nuri Mosque, from which the leaning minaret originated in the 12th century, has been the central object of UNESCO’s work to restore the object since 2020. But this discovery proves that the continuation of dismantling the killer remnants of ISIL in Mosul is still problematic.
The mosque was precisely the place from which, ten years after the current year, ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared the formation of a “caliphate” on June 29, 2014. Their subsequent attack on the mosque during the fight for Mosul in 2017 has been considered the destruction of the group’s cultural heritage.
While efforts have been made by the nation and the United Nations, mines have been removed, and a rebuilding process has been initiated in Mosul. However, many parts of this historic city are still destroyed. The geographical indications of the mined areas are noticeable in the landscape, symbolising the challenges faced in reconstructing the ravaged communities.
The al-Nuri Mosque is still planned to be restored by UNESCO fully by December; the organization’s goal is to ‘’once and for all, leave behind the occupation of the Daesh (ISIL).’’ The efforts to revive the cultural heritage of Mosul continue after suffering under the brutal rule of the armed group.
While everyone is getting on with the new world, such discoveries reveal that ISIL’s deadly remains exist in Mosul and, perhaps, in other occupied territories; their presence poses the people with the challenges of healing and reconstruction.
