Update - Daesh Destroys Monuments İnside Mosul Museum

The Prime Minister of Iraq's Kurdish Regional Government condemned the destruction of monuments inside Mosul museum by Daesh, the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group. 



"This destruction proves what a great threat the terrorist group Daesh poses to humanity and civilization," said Nechirvan Barzani in a written statement on Friday.



Stating that the destruction of the museum caused great damage to world civilization, Barzani continued: "People of Kurdistan and Iraq were hurt by the destruction video where Daesh brutally destroyed the key historical artifacts."



The video, whose recording date could not be verified, also showed other militants destroying statues using hammers, saws and electrical digging machines, saying they would destroy the monuments even if they were worth billions of dollars.   



"These idols used to be worshipped in the old centuries instead of Allah," a Daesh member standing in front of a large statue said in the video. 



The monuments date back to the 8th century B.C., according to the labels on the monuments that appeared in the video.



The museum enjoys historical importance and features thousands of artifacts that belong to the old Assyrian civilization, many of which were looted after the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003.



The Mosul museum was reported to have been looted and destroyed by mobs shortly after the fall of Baghdad in 2003. Local Iraqis managed to save some manuscripts and artifacts, but the U.S. Army was criticized for not having done enough to save the museum according to news reports at the time.



Barzani said the artifacts in the museum were a sign of a cultural coexistence of the region's people.



"The artifacts are a piece of Iraq's and the region's key richness," added Barzani and called on the UN to prevent the export of the artifacts out of the conflict-hit country by the militant group. 



Iraq has been gripped by a security vacuum since June 2014 when Daesh militants stormed the northern province of Mosul and declared a self-styled caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria.



www.aa.com.tr/en - Ankara