The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), a militant group of Iraq, has blown away the shrine of Sayyeda Zaynab bint Ali, the granddaughter of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and daughter of his daughter Fatima and Ali at Sinjar district of Iraq on Sunday.
“Elements of ISIS blew up Sayyeda Zeinab shrine and executed ten of Shia Kurds in the district , which is inhabited by a majority of the Kurdish Yazidis,” Iraq-based Shafaq News reports.
The district is witnessing widespread exodus to escape from fighting and fear of militants who consider Yazidis as "infidels" and regard it as permissible to kill them.
Earlier on Thursday the same group had blown away the shrine of Yunus (Tomb of Jonah) at Iraqi city Mosul.
Zaynab bint Ali with the title Sayyeda meaning "Lady" to show respect was one of the daughters of the Rashid Caliph and first Shia Imam Ali and his first wife Fatimah. Muhammad the Islamic prophet was her maternal grandfather and thus she is a member of Ahl al-bayt (the household of Muhammad) and is therefore often revered not only for her admirable characteristics and actions but also for her membership in and continuation of the biological line of Muhammad.
ISIS has seized large parts of Syria and Iraq, the predominantly Sunni jihadist group, seeks to sow civil unrest in Iraq and the Levant with the aim of establishing a caliphate – a single, transnational Islamic state based on Sharia.