News, views and top stories in your inbox. Don't miss our must-read newsletter Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now

Islamic State zealots have committed yet another barbaric act of vandalism on a site of vast cultural and historic significance in their latest assault on Middle Eastern culture.

ISIS extremists descended on Hatra, a 2,000-year-old city and UNESCO World Heritage site that is 68 miles from the ISIS-held city of Mosul in Iraq.

Slick video footage produced by the media-savvy regime shows militants hammering away at priceless statues and shrines, wiping away artefacts that have survived two millennia because it does not conform to their unyielding and narrow interpretation of Islam.

At one point a fighter takes aim at wall carvings with an AK47 assault rifle and pumps bullets into the priceless antiques.

One of the militants tells the camera the site was ravaged because it is "worshipped instead of God."

UNESCO and the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation issued a joint statement saying "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."

The terror group reportedly destroyed Assyrian statues of winged bulls from the Mesopotamian cities of Nineveh and Nimrud, as well as 2000-year-old statues from Hatra, an ancient city in northern Iraq.

ISIS said shrines and statues are “false idols” that need to be smashed. But sources say they are often sold to fund terror operations.

"The Prophet ordered us to get rid of statues and relics, and his companions did the same when they conquered countries after him," an unidentified extremist said in a video of the destruction.

Archaeologist Lamia al-Gailani said of the attacks: “They are erasing our history.”

Hatra is believed to have been built in the 3rd or 2nd century BC by the Seleucid Empire and was capture by the Parthian Empire.

It was an important religious and trading centre and became an important bulwark against the Roman Empire and withstood repeated assaults.