BAGHDAD — Islamic State militants continued their campaign targeting cultural heritage sites in territories they control in northern Iraq, looting and damaging the ancient city of Hatra just one day after bulldozing the historic city of Nimrud, according to Iraqi government officials and local residents. The destruction in Hatra comes as the militant Islamic group fended off an Iraqi army offensive in Saddam Hussein’s hometown and fought pitched battles in eastern Syria in an area populated by predominantly Christian villages.

Iraqi officials in the northern city of Mosul said Saturday that Islamic State militants have begun demolishing Hatra, a move UNESCO described as “cultural cleansing.”

The face of a woman adorns ruins in Hatra, Iraq, which the Islamic State group looted and damaged a day after bulldozing the historic city of Nimrud. The Associated Press

An official with the ministry of tourism and antiquities’ archaeological division in Mosul said that multiple residents living near Hatra heard two large explosions Saturday morning, then reported seeing bulldozers begin demolishing the site. He spoke anonymously for fear of reprisal.

Saeed Mamuzini, a Kurdish official from Mosul, said the militants had begun carrying away artifacts from Hatra as early as Thursday and on Saturday, began to destroy the 2,000-year-old city.

Hatra, located 68 miles southwest of Mosul, was a large fortified city during the Parthian Empire and capital of the first Arab kingdom. A UNESCO world heritage site, Hatra is said to have withstood invasions by the Romans in A.D. 116 and 198 thanks to its high, thick walls reinforced by towers. The ancient trading center spanned 4 miles in circumference and was supported by more than 160 towers. At its heart are a series of temples with a grand temple at the center – a structure supported by columns that once rose to 100 feet.

“The destruction of Hatra marks a turning point in the appalling strategy of cultural cleansing underway in Iraq,” said Irina Bokova, the director-general of UNESCO, and Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri, director general of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in a joint statement.

“With this latest act of barbarism against Hatra, (the Islamic State group) shows the contempt in which it holds the history and heritage of Arab people.”

Meanwhile in Syria, Islamic State militants attacked a string of predominantly Christian villages on Saturday, touching off heavy clashes with Kurdish militiamen and their local allies, activists said.

The attack began around dawn and targeted at least three villages near the town of Tal Tamr along the Khabur River in Hassakeh province. The Islamic State group kidnapped more than 220 Assyrian Christians from the same area last month after overrunning several farming communities on the southern bank of the river.

The fighting Saturday was focused in villages on the northern bank of the river as the militants press to capture Tal Tamr, a strategic crossroads some 20 miles from the city of Hassakeh, said Osama Edwards, director of the Assyrian Network for Human Rights.

“The battles are now very intensive, very violent,” he said.

Related Stories