IS 'bulldozed' ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud, Iraq says

By Karim Abou Merhi and Jean Marc Mojon

BAGHDAD - The Islamic State group began bulldozing the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud in Iraq on Thursday, the government said, in the militant group’s latest attack on the country's historical heritage.

IS "assaulted the historic city of Nimrud and bulldozed it with heavy vehicles", the tourism and antiquities ministry said on an official Facebook page.

An Iraqi antiquities official confirmed the news, saying the destruction began after noon prayers on Thursday and that trucks that may have been used to haul away artefacts had also been spotted at the site.

"Until now, we do not know to what extent it was destroyed," the official said on condition of anonymity.

Nimrud, one of the jewels of the Assyrian era, was founded in the 13th century BC and lies on the Tigris River around 30 kilometres (18 miles) southeast of Mosul, Iraq's second city and the main hub of IS in the country.

"I'm sorry to say everybody was expecting this. Their plan is to destroy Iraqi heritage, one site at a time," said Abdulamir Hamdani, an Iraqi archaeologist from Stony Brook University.

"Hatra of course will be next," he said, referring to a beautifully preserved city in Nineveh province that is more than 2,000 years old and is a UNESCO world heritage site.

"I'm really devastated. But it was just a matter of time," he said.

Nimrud is the site of what was described as one of the greatest archaeological finds of the 20th century when a team unearthed a collection of jewels, precious stones in 1988.

The jewels were briefly displayed at the Iraqi national museum, disappeared from public view but survived the looting that followed the 2003 US invasion and were eventually found in a Central Bank building.

Most of Nimrud's priceless artefacts have long been moved to museums, in Mosul, Baghdad, Paris, London and elsewhere but giant "lamassu" statues - winged bulls with human heads - and reliefs were still on site.

Thursday's destruction at Nimrud came a week after the militant group released a video showing fighters armed with sledgehammers and jackhammers smashing priceless ancient artefacts at the Mosul museum.

Winged bulls

That attack sparked widespread consternation and alarm, with some archaeologists and heritage experts comparing it with the 2001 demolition of the Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan by the Taliban.

In IS’ extreme interpretation of Islam, statues, idols and shrines amount to recognising other objects of worship than God and must be destroyed.

The video released by IS last week showed militants knocking statues off their plinths and rampaging through the Mosul museum's collection.

It also shows fighters using a jackhammer to deface an imposing granite Assyrian winged bull at the Nergal Gate in Mosul.

"These artefacts behind me are idols for people from ancient times who worshipped them instead of God," a bearded IS militant said in the video.

"The prophet removed and buried the idols in Mecca with his blessed hands," he said, referring to the Muslim prophet Mohammed.

Many of the artefacts destroyed in the Mosul museum were from Nimrud and Hatra.

UNESCO director general Irina Bokova demanded an emergency meeting of the Security Council and called for the International Criminal Court to look into the Mosul museum destruction.

Speaking on Friday, Bokova said the destruction of the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud amounted to a “war crime.”

“I condemn with the strongest force the destruction of the site at Nimrud,” she said in a statement. “We cannot stay silent. The deliberate destruction of cultural heritage constitutes a war crime, and I call on all political and religious leaders in the region to stand up against this new barbarity.”

IS spearheaded a sweeping offensive last June that overran Nineveh province, where Mosul and Nimrud are located, and swept through much of Iraq's Sunni Arab heartland.

The Mosul region was home to a mosaic of minorities, including the Assyrian Christians, who consider themselves to be the region's indigenous people.

IS has systematically destroyed heritage sites, including Sunni Muslim shrines that it also considers heretical, in areas it controls, and repeatedly attacked members of religious minorities.

Iraqi security forces and allied fighters are battling to regain ground from IS with backing from an international coalition as well as neighbouring Iran.

But major operations to drive IS out of Nineveh are likely months away, leaving the province's irreplaceable historical sites at the mercy of militants who have no regard for Iraq's past.