Anti-ISIS airstrikes flatten ancient Iraq church

An air raid carried out by the anti-Islamic State coalition has destroyed an ancient Syrian-Orthodox church in northern Iraq, the local Ankawa news website reported on Tuesday.

The Church of the Virgin in Mosul was razed to the ground in the overnight airstrike, Ankawa said, quoting unnamed sources in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.

The Byzantine-era church had been occupied by ISIS fighters and was among seven targets hit by coalition war planes, the website said.

ISIS fighters demolished a large stone relief in the shape of a cross that adorned the church’s facade, Ankawa reported in May.

The website published a series of photos showing the destruction wrought on the church by the pick-axe wielding militants.

ISIS fighters have seized or destroyed most of the art and religious monuments in Mosul, whose Christian and other minority populations have fled since the Sunni extremist group overran the city in June 2015.