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IS militants raze new archeological site in northern Iraq

Xinhua, March 8, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Islamic State (IS) militants on Sunday razed another ancient remains of the archeological site of Khorsabad in Iraq's northern province of Nineveh, a security source said.

The extremist militants removed the artifacts and razed the archeological site of Khorsabad, some 15 km northeast of the provincial capital city of Mosul, causing heavy damages to the site, a source from the Kurdish security forces, known as Peshmerga, told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The archeological site of Khorsabad has been under the control of the IS militants for months.

The Iraqi Tourism and Antiquities Ministry is investigating reports that the ancient site has been destroyed by the IS militants and a statement by the ministry will be issued later, a ministry official told Xinhua.

In the present day, Khorsabad is the name of a village lies near archeological site of the Assyrian capital, which was known as "Dur-Sharrukin," or Fortress of Sargon II of Assyria who ruled from 722 to 705 BC.

Dur-Sharrukin is roughly a square with a border marked by a city wall 24 meters thick with a stone foundation pierced by seven massive gates. A mound in the northeast section of the ruin site marks the location of the palace of Sargon II.

The destruction of the archeological site followed similar attacks by the extremist group on archeological sites of the ancient Nimrud city, some 30 km southeast of Mosul, and the remains of the ancient Hatra city, some 110 km southwest of Mosul, in addition to smashing large statues and unique artifacts from archeological sites and Nineveh provincial museum previously.

In the chaos following the fall of Baghdad on April 9, 2003, the Iraqi national museum was also ransacked by looters. An estimated 15,000 priceless antiquities were lost and only about half of them have been recovered so far.

Chaos and fragile security during the post-invasion years left many historic sites in the hands of looters who carried out random excavations and stole tens of thousands of antiquities, usually causing irreversible damage.

Earlier, the IS extremists destroyed many old temples, shrines, churches and precious manuscripts in the city of Mosul and many other areas. Endit