Over 100,000 books burnt by ISIS in Anbar, Iraq - official

The Islamic State extremist group (IS, formerly known as ISIS, ISIL) has burnt more than 100,000 books, including rare and important manuscripts, across the parts of the Anbar region in Iraq they control, according to Anbar provincial council member Amal Fahadway, cited by London-based Arabic language website Elaph, Sputnik news agency reports. The director of Mosul’s public library said in a statement that a library in the Faisaliah area east of Mosul was bombed by IS on Saturday. IS has been notorious for ransacking libraries and destroying books. UNESCO exepressed its alarm at the beginning of February over reports of massive destruction of books in Mosul, saying that these actions seek “to wipe out the cultural diversity that is the soul of the Iraqi people.”