Following the ransacking of Mosul Museum in Iraq, Islamic State militants have now proceeded to the bulldozing of the city of Nimrud, the AFP reports. Located southeast of Mosul, Nimrud was an ancient Assyrian city and part of the Iraqi heritage, dating back to the 13th century BC. Although most of Nimrud’s priceless artefacts had long been moved to other museums in Mosul, Baghdad, Paris and London, the giant lamassu statues (winged bulls with human heads) and reliefs were still on site. After discussions with the UN Security Council and International Criminal Court, the head of UNESCO condemned this destruction act as a ‘war crime’.
In the past months, ISIS has been targeting the cultural and historical heritage of Iraq, in particular in the Nineveh province, home to a variety of minorities, including Assyrian Christians. Abdulamir Hamdani, an Iraqi archaeologist from New York’s Stony Brook University said to the AFP that this vandalism act came as no surprise; ‘their plan is to destroy Iraqi heritage, one site at a time’, Hamdani deplored, before fortelling the next attack would be on UNESCO world heritage site of Hatra.
6 March 2015.
