The explosion caused strong fire, which spread to all areas of the three-storey building, the director of Mosul library Ghanem at-Taan has said. The Islamic State militants started a fire of books and manuscripts of the cultural heritage of Iraq in the courtyard of the library, which was considered one of the oldest in the country. In total, around 10 thousand books were destroyed, including rare copies on culture, philosophy, Arab history, and hundreds of manuscripts.
According to eyewitnesses, the Islamic State purposefully destroys libraries throughout the territory controlled by the group. Thus, according to a member of the Board of Anbar province, Adal al-Fahdaui, only during the last week the Islamic State radical destroyed several libraries, burning more than 100 thousand books.
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