Militants continue destroying heritage sites in Iraq

BAGHDAD: Islamic State militants continued their campaign targeting cultural heritage sites in territories they control in northern Iraq, looting and damaging the ancient city of Hatra just one day after bulldozing the historic city of Nimrud, according to Iraqi government officials and local residents.

The destruction in Hatra comes as the militant Islamic group fended off an Iraqi army offensive in Saddam Hussein’s hometown and fought pitched battles in eastern Syria in an area populated by predominantly Christian villages.

Iraqi officials in the northern city of Mosul said on Saturday that Islamic State militants have begun demolishing Hatra, a move Unesco described as “cultural cleansing”.

An official with the ministry of tourism and antiquities’ archaeological division in Mosul told reporters that multiple residents living near Hatra heard two large explosions Saturday morning, then reported seeing bulldozers begin demolishing the site.

Saeed Mamuzini, a Kurdish official from Mosul, said that the militants had begun carrying away artefacts from Hatra as early as Thursday and on Saturday, began to destroy the 2,000-year-old city.

A Unesco world heritage site, Hatra is said to have withstood invasions by the Romans in AD 116 and 198 thanks to its high, thick walls reinforced by towers. The ancient trading centre spanned 6km in circumference and was supported by more than 160 towers.

“The destruction of Hatra marks a turning point in the appalling strategy of cultural cleansing underway in Iraq,” said Irina Bokova, the director-general of Unesco, and Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri, director-general of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Isesco) in a joint statement.

“With this latest act of barbarism against Hatra, (the IS group) shows the contempt in which it holds the history and heritage of Arab people.” — AP