Nimrud, once the capital of an empire stretching across the ancient Middle East, is one of several historic sites looted and ransacked by the militants when they seized large parts of northern Iraq two years ago.

The militant group, whose ultra-hardline doctrine deems the country’s pre-Islamic religious heritage idolatrous, released video footage last year showing its fighters bulldozing, drilling and blowing up murals and statues at Nimrud.

Those statues included the famous winged bulls with human faces, known as lamassu, which stood at the entrances to the palace of Ashurnasirpal II, king of Assyria in the 9th century BC, and nearby temples on the site.

“Troops from the Ninth Armoured Division liberated Nimrud town completely and raised the Iraqi flag above its buildings,” the statement said. The town of Nimrud lies 1 km (less than 1 mile) west of the ruins.

The soldiers also captured the village of Numaniya, on the edge of ancient Nimrud, the capital of an Assyrian empire reaching from Egypt to parts of modern-day Iran and Turkey.

Nimrud lies on the eastern bank of the Tigris river, 30 km (20 miles) south of Mosul where Iraqi soldiers are battling Islamic State for the largest city under the militants’ control in Iraq and neighboring Syria.