Iraqis run for cover as they flee Mosul's Al-Tayaran neighbourhood on February 28, 2017, during an offensive by Iraqi forces to retake the area from Islamic State (IS) group fighters. Hundreds of civilians fled through the desert to escape fighting and privation in Mosul, joining thousands of others who left their homes as conditions worsen in the city's west. (Photo by Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP Photo)

An Iraqi special forces soldier wears a rose in his body armor as troops move from the Yarmouk neighborhood to take another district from Islamic State militant control in Mosul, Iraq, Wednesday, April 12, 2017. (Photo by Maya Alleruzzo/AP Photo)

Paramilitary policemen take part in a summer training in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China, June 27, 2016. (Photo by Reuters/China Daily)

Rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) visit as they wait to have lunch in El Diamante, Colombia, Friday, September 16, 2016. FARC rebels are gathering for a congress were delegates will debate and vote on the accord reached last month with the Colombian government to end five decades of war. (Photo by Ricardo Mazalan/AP Photo)

Soldiers stand in front of a floral decoration during celebrations to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the Vietnam People's Army at the National Convention Center in Hanoi December 20, 2014. The Vietnam People's Army was founded on December 22, 1944 and led by General Vo Nguyen Giap in Cao Bang province, initially with only 34 members. (Photo by Reuters/Kham)

Sukhoi Su-30SM jet fighters of the Sokoly Rossii (Falcons of Russia) aerobatic team fly in formation during the International Army Games 2016, in Dubrovichi outside Ryazan, Russia, August 5, 2016. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)

Kanphitcha Sungsuk, 21, (C), lines up with young men to speak to officers during an army draft held at a school in Klong Toey, the dockside slum area in Bangkok, Thailand, April 6, 2017. Thailand is widely seen as a paradise for gay and transgender people, but many complain of being treated as second-class citizens and the obligation to respond to the draft can be a nightmare when they turn 21. (Photo by Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters)

Iraq's second largest city, Mosul, is locked under the rule of extremists from the Islamic State group trying to purge it of everything they see as contradicting their stark vision of Islam. A trove of photographs now housed at the Library of Congress offers a glimpse of a different Mosul – before wars, insurgency, sectarian strife and now radicals' rule. The scenes were taken in the autumn of 1932 by staff from the American Colony Photo Department during a visit to Iraq at the end of the British mandate. (Photo by AP Photo)