Nicknamed Al-Habda, or "the hunchback", because of its tilted stance, the minaret was situated within the complex of the Great Mosque of al-Nuri, an important Islamic site.
"As our Iraqi Security Force partners closed in on the al-Nuri mosque, [IS] destroyed one of Mosul and Iraq's great treasures", a senior USA commander in Iraq said in a statement.
(AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, File).
The army recaptured eastern Mosul in January and is now fighting to retake control of the western part of the city.
The mosque has dominated Mosul's skyline for centuries and is pictured on Iraq's 10,000 dinar bank note.
(AP Photo/Jerome Delay, File).
What does ISIS gain by blowing up the Mosul mosque? In the background is the leaning minaret.
UNICEF said 1,075 Iraqi children have been killed and 1,130 wounded since IS militants overran almost a third of Iraq in 2014.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi went further.
"When Da'esh targeted the mosque and minaret a few months ago, the people of Mosul formed a human chain to protect the site, proving once again that the protection of heritage can not be delinked from the protection of human lives", she added. Federal police earlier this year said they looked forward to praying in al-Nuri - but the resistance continued.
The "Night of Power" commemorates when the Quran was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad during the holy month of Ramadan, which is in its waning days.
The loss of the iconic 12th century minaret - one of the country's most recognizable monuments sometimes referred to as Iraq's Tower of Pisa - left the country in shock.
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"I think the president has played the media like a fiddle for two and a half years", said Florida Sen.
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She and other high-placed ACT members claim to be protecting free speech and so-called "traditional American values". The Minnesota State Patrol arrested about a half-dozen people. "The protesters were a bit rowdy ", Thompson said.
Zengi himself was no slouch, and played a defining role in restoring Muslim dignity by reconquering areas taken by European invaders, while also engineering the beginning of the end of the Egyptian Fatimid dynasty that eventually led to the reunification of vast stretches of Muslim land under Salahuddin.
An ISIS statement blamed an airstrike by the U.S. for the loss of the mosque and minaret.
The US-led coalition rejected the IS claim.
'We did not strike in that area, ' said coalition spokesman US Air Force Colonel John Dorrian.
The militant group flew its black flag from the famous minaret and the building became the centre of IS activities.
IS has demolished dozens of historic and archaeological sites in and around Mosul, saying they promoted idolatry. They also looted and destroyed the artifacts exhibited in Mosul Museum, a reminder of the city's proud Assyrian past.
In the past three years, ISIS has destroyed numerous cultural heritage sites in Iraq and Syria. The mosque was in the Old City area, where remaining ISIS fighters are making a final stand with an estimated 100,000 civilians being used as human shields.
The organisation said earlier in May another 200,000 people could be displaced by the conflict as military operations move closer to Mosul's Old City.
Patrick Martin, a research analyst with the Institute for the Study of War, suggested the move may have more to do with optics than a sign of an imminent defeat. Some analysts said the destruction of the mosque could in fact speed operations to drive Islamic State out of what had been its chief Iraqi stronghold.
The mosque was destroyed as Iraq's elite Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) fought their way to within 50 meters (150 feet) of it, according to an Iraqi military statement.
There has been no greater symbol of the Islamic State's presence in Mosul than the Great Mosque of al Nuri.
IS says the mosque was destroyed by a United States air strike but has not provided any evidence to support this. "The fact is that they are no longer capable of standing in the face of Iraqi government forces". While Iraqi forces have experienced periods of swift gains, combat inside the city has largely been grueling and deadly for both Iraqi forces and civilians.
Of all the destruction wrought by the terror group, the demolition of Al Nuri weighs the heaviest on Mosul's inhabitants.
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