[1/2] A view of rubble that remains at the site of the historic Siraji Mosque that was demolished for the expansion for a road in Basra, Iraq July 16, 2023.
REUTERS/Mohammed AtyBASRA, Iraq July 16 (Reuters) - The demolition on Friday of a 300-year-old minaret of a mosque in Iraq's southern city of Basra to make way for road expansion has enraged locals, religious and cultural authorities who condemned it as a further erosion of Iraq's cultural heritage.
Built in 1727, the 11-metre (36 ft) Siraji minaret and its mosque were toppled by a bulldozer at dawn on Friday morning, its brown mud-brick spire with turquoise ornaments disappearing in a cloud of dust.
Basra resident Majed al Husseini said, standing by the rubble of the mosque.
The Sunni endowment did not respond immediately to a Reuters request for comment.
Persons:
Mohammed Aty BASRA, Majed al Husseini, Ahmed al, Badrani, Mosul's Al, Nuri, Basra Governor Asaad Al Eidani, Mohammed Munla, Munla, Timour Azhari, Emelia Sithole
Organizations:
REUTERS, Islamic, Reuters, Islamic State, Thomson
Locations:
Basra, Iraq, Iraq's, Mesopotamia, Islamic State, Baghdad, Basra Governor