First marathon takes place in Mosul

Mosul (IraqiNews.com) A marathon has taken place for the first time on Thursday in Mosul with local, regional and international participation.

“Around 1,000 athletes from Iraq and other countries took part in the running race, which took place in the western coast of Mosul city,” Abdel Raziq Mohamed, the general coordinator of the marathon, told Shafaq News.

“The Algerian Selim al-Baghdady was the winner in the marathon which has a message that Mosul will not die and it is the land of peace,” he added.

It was from the Grand Nuri al-Kabir mosque when The group’s supreme leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi made his first appearance in a video him making the sermon proclaiming the establishment of an Islamist “caliphate” in the Old City’s Grand Nuri Mosque in June 2014.

On July 10, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared victory over Islamic State militants who had held the second largest Iraqi city since 2014. More than 25,000 militants were killed throughout the campaign.

A government campaign, backed by PMFs and a U.S.-led international coalition, has been fighting the Islamic State group, which declared a self-styled “caliphate” from Mosul in June 2014.

The war against IS has displaced nearly five million people, with tens of thousands of civilians and militants killed since the launch of the offensives to recapture occupied cities.