ISIS Militants Blow Up Jonah’s Tomb In Iraq

The militant group has been destroying holy sites as it seeks to impose Sharia law.This week, it blew up the tomb of the biblical prophet said to have survived inside a whale.

A video posted to YouTube Thursday appears to show the destruction of Jonah’s tomb in Mosul, Iraq.

The tomb is thought to be the burial place of the Old Testament prophet who survived in the belly of a whale. Officials in Mosul said militants with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) planted explosives around the shrine and detonated them remotely, CNN reports. The militants are trying to impose Sharia law in the areas under their control.

The mosque that included Jonah’s tomb, as seen on Saturday:

The mosque after it was destroyed Thursday:

The tomb was located inside a Sunni mosque.

Jonah features prominently in Islam, Judaism and Christianity, but the tomb was located inside the Mosque of the Prophet Younis, a Sunni worship site. The ISIS has blown up several Sunni holy sites in Mosul recently, CNN reports, and last month destroyed seven Shiite sites in Tal Afar, about 30 miles from Mosul.

ISIS has also been driving Christians out of Mosul.

Earlier this month, the radical Islamic group — which took over Mosul in June — gave Christians in the city the choice to either flee, pay a $470, or face execution. The city’s last 1,500 Christian families were then robbed a ISIS checkpoints, according toThe Guardian, and a group of monks were only allowed to take the clothes they were wearing.

The U.N. also has reported that ISIS has ordered female genital mutilation in Mosul.