Thousands of rare books, documents, manuscripts housed in Mosul library, spanning centuries of human learning, have been burnt down by Islamic State (IS) militants, a report said.
Reports initially suggested that about 8,000 books had been burnt by the terror group but Al Rai’s chief international correspondent Elijah J. Magnier said that a Mosul Library official said that at least 112,709 manuscripts and books, some of which were registered on a UNESCO rarities list, had been burnt to ashes, reported The Independent.
Mosul Public Library’s director Ghanim al-Ta’an said that the militants then used explosives to blow up the building.
A local source said that people tried to prevent the jihadists from burning the library, but failed.
Other reports suggested that IS militants barged into the library and created a huge pyre of scientific and cultural texts as university students watched in horror.
A collection of Iraqi newspapers from the beginning of the 20th century, maps, books and collections from the Ottoman period were among the documents that were destroyed, the report said.
A University of Mosul history professor said that the militant group started destroying the library, which was established in 1921 and was symbolic of the birth of modern Iraq, earlier this month.
He said that IS fighters had inflicted especially severe damage to the Sunni Muslim library, the library of the 265-year-old Latin Church and Monastery of the Dominican Fathers and the Mosul Museum Library.
Some Mosul residents claimed that not all books had been destroyed as they saw trucks with Syrian licence plates carrying off loads of documents in the middle of the night.
Residents said that at least 2,000 books, including children’s tales, poetry, philosophy, sports, health, culture and science, were carried away in six pick-up trucks. (ANI)