Iraq's famous 'hunchback' of Mosul rebuilt brick by brick

Residents hope the restoration of historic sites, destroyed during the IS group rule, will bring tourists to the city

- AFP

The leaning minaret of Mosul in northern Iraq has been restored using its original brickwork, years after it was reduced to rubble under Islamic State group rule.

The Al-Hadba or "hunchback" minaret is part of the historic Al-Nuri Mosque from where former IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in July 2014 declared his "caliphate" that committed atrocities across swathes of both Syria and Iraq.

The mosque and minaret were destroyed in June 2017 during the battle to oust IS from Mosul, and Iraq's authorities accused the jihadists of planting explosives before their withdrawal.

The minaret and mosque are the latest landmarks in Mosul to be restored by United Nations heritage body Unesco, whose teams have worked for five years to revive several sites there.

The Al-Hadba minaret of today is an exact replica of the old one, "built with the same bricks", said Abdullah Mahmoud of the Iraqi department of antiquities.

"Al-Hadba is our identity, and by restoring it, the identity of the city has been reclaimed."

The restored minaret's tilt has been retained at 160 centimetres (63 inches), just as it was in the 1960s.

However, engineers have reinforced the foundations so it no longer leans quite so precariously, as it began to do gradually after being built in the 12th century.