Daesh terrorists blew up on Wednesday the Grand al-Nuri Mosque of Mosul and its leaning minaret, an Iraqi military statement said.

"Our forces were advancing toward their targets deep in the Old City and when they got to within 50 metres (yards) of the Nuri mosque, Daesh committed another historical crime by blowing up the Nuri mosque and the Hadba" mosque, Staff Lieutenant General Abdulamir Yarallah, the overall commander of the Mosul offensive, said in a statement.

Daesh terrorist group's leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi made his only public appearance in the mosque in 2014, reports said.

Iraqi forces launched a push into Mosul's Old City earlier this week where the last Daesh terrorists are holed up with an estimated 100,000 civilians according to the United Nations.

The fight to retake Mosul was launched more than eight months ago and has displaced more than 850,000 people.