Al-Hadba minaret at the Grand Mosque is seen through a building window in the old city of Mosul, Iraq June 1, 2017. (Photo:Reuters)
Egypt condemned on Thursday the destruction of the medieval Al-Nuri mosque in Mosul by Daesh militant group, the Egyptian foreign ministry announced.
"This barbaric act is considered a crime against the whole of humanity and not against the Iraqi people only," said the statement.
Egypt fully supports Iraq as it takes steps to protect its historical heritage from destruction by terrorist organisations, the statement read.
Daesh destroyed the 12th-century mosque and its famous leaning minaret, known as the al-Hadba minaret, when fighters detonated explosives inside the structures on Wednesday night according to the Iraqi defence ministry.
The mosque, which is also known as Mosul's Great Mosque, is where Daesh leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi declared a so-called Islamic caliphate in 2014 shortly after Mosul was overrun by the militants.
The minaret had stood for more than 850 years.
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