Islamic State militants desecrate another ancient Iraqi capital

PanARMENIAN.Net - Islamic State militants have desecrated another ancient Iraqi capital, the government said on Wednesday, March 11 razing parts of the 2,700-year-old city of Khorsabad famed for its colossal statues of human-headed winged bulls, Reuters reports.

Officials have said for several days they were checking reports of damage at Khorsabad following attacks on the cities of Nineveh, Nimrud and Hatra by the Islamist radicals who control much of northern Iraq.

On Wednesday the head of Iraq's antiquities board and the country's antiquities minister both confirmed that damage had been inflicted in recent days at Khorsabad, although neither was able to give details.

"The city walls were razed, and some elements of the temples, but we don't know the exact extent (of the damage)," antiquities director Qais Rasheed told Reuters. "Looting took place, and then the razing".

Islamic State rules a self-declared caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria which contain some of the richest archaeological treasures on earth, where ancient Assyrian empires built their capitals, Graeco-Roman civilization flourished and Muslim and Christian sects co-existed for centuries.

The group, which rejects all but its own narrow interpretation of early Sunni Muslim theology as heresy, has systematically destroyed historic temples, shrines, manuscripts statues and carvings. Officials say it has also looted widely, selling artifacts to help fund its rule.

The United Nations has condemned Islamic State's actions as a war crime and an attack on humanity's common heritage, but the global outrage has not slowed the destruction.

Iraq has asked a U.S.-led coalition which is supporting Baghdad's fightback against Islamic State with air strikes to deploy its aerial power to defend the country's heritage.

U.S. General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said in Baghdad on Monday the military priority was focused on populated areas ruled by Islamic State, as opposed to some of the remote antiquities sites.