The Islamic State militant group has continued its destruction of the Middle East’s cultural heritage by blowing up a nearly 200-year-old mosque near Mosul, Iraq. The Maryam Khatoon Mosque was built in 1821 during the Ottoman Empire’s rule.
An unidentified source confirmed the building’s demolition Tuesday to the Kurdish news site Rudaw. “The [ISIS] fighters blew up Maryam Khatoon Mosque, which was a heritage site, located in Hawsh Khan neighborhood, in the west of Mosul.”
ISIS has made it a part of its campaign of terror to destroy buildings and artwork in the region, home to mankind’s oldest civilizations. In March, its fighters completely razed the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud and were accused by Unesco of stealing ancient artifacts from there before bulldozing the site. Before that the Islamic State ravaged the Mosul Museum, taking sledgehammers to the building’s interior, which housed stone sculptures, among other ancient artifacts. But the mosque attack represents an expansion of the vandalism campaign to Iraq’s Islamic heritage.
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