Iraq: Islamic State Destroys One Of Middle East's Oldest Christian Sites In Tikrit

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A source on the ground told Iraqi news that the militants used "improvised explosive devices" planted in the surrounding area. The entire church was reportedly destroyed in the blast.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: The Huffington Post
By Antonia Blumberg | September 26, 2014

This image posted on a militant website on Saturday, June 14, 2014, which has been verified and is consistent with other AP reporting, appears to show militants from the al-Qaida-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) with truckloads of captured Iraqi soldiers after taking over a base in Tikrit, Iraq. (AP Photo via militant website)

Islamic State continues to destroy sacred sites across Iraq.

The militant group reportedly blew up a 7th century Christian site known as the Green Church in Tikrit, Iraq on Wednesday. The site belonged to the Assyrian Church of the East and was restored by the Saddam Hussein regime in 2000, according to RT News.

A source on the ground told Iraqi news that the militants used "improvised explosive devices" planted in the surrounding area. The entire church was reportedly destroyed in the blast.

The Christian church was not the only holy site destroyed by the Islamic State on Wednesday. The group appears to have also targeted a historic Muslim site, the mosque Al Arbain in the center of Tikrit.

Since its escalation over the summer the militant group also known as ISIS has wrought destruction on all in its path, regardless of faith. In July militants razed a site in Mosul, Iraq thought to be the tomb of the biblical prophet Jonah, sacred in Islam, Christianity and Judaism.

And although ISIS has targeted Christians and Yazidis, one alleged member of the group in July revealed a plot to destroy the Kaaba in Mecca, Saudi Arabia -- Islam's most holy site.


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