MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) - Perched in bombed-out apartments overlooking west Mosul, Iraqi police snipers have in the last few days advanced to within a few hundred metres of the mosque where Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al—Baghdadi declared his caliphate nearly three years ago.
Through holes knocked in walls, troops have a clear view of the al Nuri mosque's crooked, brown minaret and Islamic State's black flag on its white tip -- a hugely symbolic target in the battle to recapture Mosul now in its sixth month.
