Iraqi authorities have found more than 100 “priceless” Assyrian artefacts plundered from ancient ruins hidden in an Islamic State leader’s house in Mosul.

The discovery was made in the Az-Zirai neighbourhood in eastern Mosul, which the special forces troops recently recaptured from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil).

Photographs released by the National Security Service on Thursday show more than a dozen clay pots, a handful of large vases, “Palace Ware” pottery and a hand mill, among other smaller pieces.

Historians and archaeologists have confirmed the objects date back thousands of years to the Assyrian Empire.