The Islamic State group has released a video purportedly showing militants using sledgehammers to smash ancient artifacts in at a museum in Iraq's northern city of Mosul.
The five-minute video shows a group of bearded men in a museum using hammers and drills to destroy several large statues, including one depicting a winged-bull Assyrian protective deity that dates back to the 9th century B.C. and another artifact dating back to 7th century B.C.
This is one of what #IS has destroyed today including the Gate of Nergal in Nineveh #Iraq. pic.twitter.com/5s6rO9RT2s— Elijah J. Magnier (@EjmAlrai) February 26, 2015
The video bore the logo of the IS group's media arm and was posted on a Twitter account used by the group. The extremist group has destroyed a number of shrines -- including Muslim holy sites -- in order to eliminate what it views as heresy. In January, the group reportedly burned thousands of ancient manuscripts and rare books.
The militants are also believed to have sold ancient artifacts on the black market in order to finance their bloody campaign across the region.
Last week, the BBC reported that the trade in antiquities is one of the militant group's main sources of funding. An investigation revealed that the ISIS is looting artifacts from Syria and transporting them through Turkey and Lebanon to Europe. The U.N. Security Council has since banned the trade of Syrian artifacts.