Islamic State militants' destruction of ancient artefacts in Iraq's Mosul museum devastates experts, who compare loss to 'destruction of statue of David or Colosseum'
A rampage by sledgehammer-wielding Islamic State militants in an Iraqi museum has been compared to "the tearing down of the Colosseum brick by brick".
Priceless ancient Assyrian relics and other artefacts are seen being smashed to pieces in a Mosul museum in a video released by Islamic State.
The video also shows the jihadists using a jackhammer to deface an imposing granite Assyrian winged bull at Mosul's Nergal Gate.
Dr Benjamin Isakhan, an Iraq expert at Deakin University, said it was devastating to see such important artefacts destroyed.
"To give you a parallel example, what we're witnessing in Iraq and Syria would be a little bit like the complete destruction of the statue of David, the burning of the Sistine Chapel, the tearing down of the Colosseum brick by brick," he told The World Today.
"There is just no way to quantify the loss here. For example, the winged bulls of ancient Assyrian empires. These things have been around for 3,000 years. They are the iconic edifice of the ancient Assyrian empire.
"What we're witnessing really is a major chapter in the broader story of human civilisation being completely destroyed. And once it's destroyed, it's lost forever."
Professor Eleanor Robson from University College London knows the museum and told the BBC it was an unimaginable loss.
"I can recognise the little museum on the archaeological site of Nineveh, the ancient Assyrian capital," she said.
"It's 14 years since I visited there but nevertheless it's a familiar place and these are undoubtedly genuine objects.
"It's heartbreaking for me and I'm thinking too of my colleagues in Mosul itself, my archaeology colleagues, my university colleagues, for whom this is their lives.
"They must be watching this, seeing their whole lives being smashed to pieces. My heart bleeds for them far more than for me."
Experts said the items destroyed included original pieces, reconstructed fragments and copies.
IS militants have in the past raised money from selling priceless artefacts but Dr Isakhan said they had an even bigger motivation to completely destroy the region's history.
He likened the museum destruction to the 2001 demolition of the Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan by the Taliban.
"We know the Taliban has similar ideological roots to ISIS... and both went through mass destruction, like [the] Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan, which was really heralded as a major global tragedy," he said.
"This precisely drew on that same idea that these things were ... of a different religion, so therefore they are driven by that kind of sectarianism, [believing that] alternative visions and understandings of god are disrespectful and blasphemous."
The militants have long been destroying anything that they deem not to be true to Islam.
"To all Muslims, these statues are idols of people of centuries past which were worshipped instead of Allah," one unidentified IS fighter said in the video.
The head of the United Nations' cultural agency demanded an emergency meeting of the Security Council following the mass destruction.
"This attack is far more than a cultural tragedy - this is also a security issue as it fuels sectarianism, violent extremism and conflict in Iraq," UNESCO chief Irina Bokova said in a statement.
Earlier this month, the UN adopted a resolution to curb trafficking in looted antiquities from Iraq and Syria, which have been a source of funding for IS.
The jihadists have controlled Mosul, Iraq's second city, since seizing it in a June offensive that saw them conquer large parts of the country.
They have systematically destroyed heritage sites, including several Sunni Muslim shrines.
The Mosul region was home to a mosaic of minorities, including the Assyrian Christians, who consider themselves to be the region's indigenous people.
Several Assyrian villages were seized by IS fighters in neighbouring Syria in recent days and at least 220 people kidnapped.
