VIDEO: IS turned Mosul's Great Mosque into bomb, VBIED factory

MOSUL, Iraq (Kurdistan24) – The Islamic State (IS) used the famous Grand Mosque of Mosul as a factory to manufacture Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and vehicles laden with explosives.

On Jan. 17, as part of the military operation to retake the second-largest city in Iraq, the security forces controlled the Grand Mosque of Mosul which was formerly known as the “Saddam Mosque.”

Kurdistan24 correspondent Hemin Dalo went inside the mosque, exploring the site after its liberation.

“Most of the IS Russian militants were in this mosque,” an Iraqi military commander told Kurdistan24. “Many IS snipers were inside the mosque and its tower.”

According to him, IS used the mosque for many purposes including the manufacturing of booby-traps and car bombs. 

The mosque was also a base for IS to fly drones in the nearby neighborhoods and drop bombs on the Iraqi security troops in the area, the commander added.

The US-led Coalition Spokesperson John Dorrian previously stated the insurgent group used protected sites like mosques, churches, schools, and hospitals as their weapons storage or military base. 

Kurdish Peshmerga and Iraqi forces launched the Mosul offensive in October 2016, and the operation is ongoing as half of the city has already been retaken by the troops.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany