INTERNATIONAL NEWS - The United States and Iraq said ISIS blew up a historic mosque in Mosul that was the ideological heart of the terror group and the birthplace of its self-declared caliphate.
ISIS, through its news agency, said US warplanes were responsible for the loss late Wednesday of the Great Mosque of al-Nuri and its leaning minaret.
US officials told CNN the ISIS claim was "1,000% false."
Iraq Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the ISIS act amounts to "an official announcement of their defeat." His military commanders said militants blew the mosque up after troops closed in.
It's difficult to overstate the symbolism of the Old City mosque that has witnessed fierce fighting between ISIS militants and coalition forces determined to liberate what was the country's second-largest city.
