The Islamic State (IS) extremist group has released a video showing militants destroying ancient artifacts in northern Iraq.
The five-minute video published online on February 26 showed a group of black-clad men using sledgehammers to smash statues and sculptures in an antiquities museum in the city of Mosul, which IS fighters overran in June.
A man is also seen drilling through and destroying a winged-bull Assyrian deity from the 7th century B.C.
A bearded man described the artifacts as idols that must be destroyed.
The IS group is believed to also have sold ancient artifacts on the black market in order to finance their campaign across the region.
They have also destroyed a number of shrines, including Muslim holy sites, in order to eliminate what they view as heresy.
