Baghdad, Nov 26 (IANS): The Sunni radical group Islamic State (IS) has demolished several mosques and shrines belonging to Shia and Sunni Muslims in Iraq, a media report said Wednesday.

Video footage released Tuesday showed IS militants bulldozing and blowing up several Sunni and Shia holy sites in Iraq’s Salahuddin province, Press TV reported.

IS terrorists also blew up the historical St. George's church in the city of Mosul, it added.

The terrorist group “has once again turned to bombing churches and mosques after it lost popularity and many of its members to the airstrikes that have targeted strongholds in different areas of the city", said Saad Mamuzin, head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party's (KDP) 14th Branch in Mosul, Tuesday.

The security situation in Iraq began to drastically deteriorate after June 10, when bloody clashes broke out between the Iraqi security forces and the IS group, which took control of the country's northern province of Nineveh and later seized swathes of territories after Iraqi security forces abandoned their posts in other Sunni provinces.

The Iraqi army has recently managed to make several gains in the fight against the IS, pledging to continue the battle against the extremist group.