Caliph Al-Mansur ordered the building of Baghdad between AD762 and AD767 ... on them with words from the holy book, the Qur’an. Mosques had minarets which are thin towers with balconies.

U.S. Marines fought a fierce four-hour battle at a Baghdad mosque where senior Iraqi leaders had been thought to be holed up, and U.S. warplanes attacked areas of the city still under the control ...