Iraq lays cornerstone to rebuild iconic Mosul mosque
(Artdaily.org)

Iraqis on Sunday laid the cornerstone in rebuilding Mosul`s Al-Nuri mosque and leaning minaret, national emblems destroyed last year in the ferocious battle against the Islamic State group. The famed 12th century mosque and minaret, dubbed Al-Hadba or `the hunchback,` hosted Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi`s only public appearance as IS chief, when he declared a self-styled `caliphate` after the jihadists swept into Mosul in 2014. The structures were ravaged three years later in the final, most brutal stages of the months-long fight to rid Iraq`s second city of IS. On Sunday, dozens of government officials, religious figures, United Nations representatives and European ambassadors gathered in the large square in front of the battered mosque to see the foundation laid. Abdullatif Al-Humaym, the head of Sunni Muslim endowments in Iraq, set down the stone in a simple ceremony.