Islamic State fighters used heavy vehicles to bulldoze the ancient city of Nimrud, pillaged whatever was left standing

Mar 6, 2015 10:23 GMT  ·  By

Yesterday, March 5, officials with Iraq's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced the destruction of an ancient archaeological site in the country's northern regions at the hands of members and supporters of terror group ISIS.

The archaeological site that Islamic State fighters destroyed earlier this week held the remains of the ancient city of Nimrud, formerly known as Kalhu. It sits on the river Tigris, not far from Mosul. This city in Iraq is currently the largest controlled by the terror group.

What exactly happened there?

For the time being, detailed information concerning how the terrorist attack on the archaeological site of Nimrud played out is lacking. What is known is that ISIS members and supporters used heavy vehicles to destroy whatever ancient buildings and structures they could find.

Simply put, they bulldozed the area. What's more, the Islamic State fighters involved in this attack pillaged whatever was left standing after the heavy vehicles had done their job destroying this ancient city in northern Iraq.

“The terrorist gangs of ISIS are continuing to defy the will of the world and the feelings of humanity after they committed a new crime that belongs to its idiotic series,” the country's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said in a statement, as cited by the NY Times.

This latest Islamic State attack began Thursday noon, shortly after prayers. Of the archaeological attractions that were looted or smashed with the help of heavy vehicles, some dated back to as early as the 13th century BC, when the city of Nimrud was founded by the ancient King Shalamansar I.

Why did they do it?

It is understood that the Islamic State militants who orchestrated and carried out this week's attack on the archaeological site of Nimrud did so in an attempt to promote apostasy, i.e. the abandonment of all religious faiths other than the one they believe is the righteous one.

Otherwise put, the ancient city of Nimrud was bulldozed in an attempt to rid the country of Iraq of all religious shrines and other archaeological attractions that do not sit right with ISIS's ideology.

In an interview with the press, George C. Papagiannis, who served as UNESCO world heritage officer in charge in Iraq between the years 2009 and 2011, explained that the terror group was essentially looking to rewrite its own history of Iraq by first destroying the country's cultural heritage.

Not the first attack of this kind

Just last week, ISIS fighters entered a museum in the Iraqi city of Mosul and smashed whatever ancient statues and artifacts they could find. They even filmed themselves wreaking havoc inside this museum and made sure to share the footage with the world.

Not that anyone asked them or that their arguments could possibly make any sense, but they also took the time to explain that the only reason they destroyed the statues and the artifacts was that they were no more and no less than symbols of idolatry.

Like the city of Nimrud on the river Tigris, the archaeological wonders that Islamic State members and supporters got rid of last week were incredibly old and part and parcel of Iraq's cultural heritage. In fact, it is said that some of them had been around since the 7th century BC.

What with the terror group's determination to promote apostasy at all costs, several other sites and museums will likely be targeted in the weeks to come. Looking to protect them, officials with Iraq's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities have asked for help from the United Nations Security Council.

Ivory statue in the city of Nimrud
Ivory statue in the city of Nimrud

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ISIS militants are targetting archaeological sites and museums
Ivory statue in the city of Nimrud
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