Islamic State (ISIS) extremists are smashing ancient statues and bas-reliefs in the Iraqi city of Mosul with pneumatic drills, according to the latest ISIS video released Thursday. The latest attack by bearded militants on Iraq's cultural heritage follows the destruction of churches, the torching of books in libraries and the destruction of part of the wall at Nineveh, the ancient Assyrian capital in the suburbs of modern Mosul. The video images posted on a social media account affiliated with ISIS show methodical destruction being perpetrated in what appears to be rooms of a museum at Nineveh. Among the statues being toppled and smashed with sledge hammers in the five-minute video is one of a bull representing the ancient Mesopotamian divinity of Nergal. The ISIS brand of fundamentalism forbids the depiction of human beings, animals, or gods. The extremist group has destroyed a number of shrines - including Muslim ones - in order to eliminate what it views as heresy.
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