Men use sledgehammers on a toppled statue in a museum at a location said to be Mosul in this still image taken from an undated video
AFP/Baghdad
A video of jihadists in Iraq gleefully smashing ancient statues to pieces with sledgehammers sparked global outrage and fears Friday that more of the world's oldest heritage will be destroyed.
The destruction of priceless Assyrian and other artefacts from the main museum and an archeological site in the northern city of Mosul drew comparisons with the 2001 dynamiting of the Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan.
Archaeologists and heritage experts called for urgent action to protect the remains of some of oldest civilisations in the world.
After demanding an emergency meeting of the Security Council, the head of the United Nations' cultural body said the International Criminal Court should also take action.
UNESCO chief Irinia Bokova described the destruction as "cultural cleansing".
French President Francois Hollande joined the chorus of condemnation, saying: "What the terrorists want to do is destroy all of humanity."
The Islamic State group has controlled Iraq's second city since June and has destroyed several historical and cultural sites across the country, including Muslim shrines.
"The artefacts and statues in the Mosul museum are not idols of gods, but statues of kings, animals, and birds," said Radwan al-Sayyed, professor of Islamic sciences at the Lebanese University.
"Even if they were statues of gods, they are in a museum, and the Koran calls on drawing lessons from them because they were for people who have long passed and that teach you that life is finite."
The Egyptian body which rules on Islamic law condemned the destruction of the Iraqi artefacts.
"Such antiquities are to be found in all of the countries conquered by Muslims, but the prophet's companions did not order their destruction or even authorise anything approaching it," said Dar al-Ifta, whose rulings are sought by Muslims from around the world.
Some of the statues destroyed in the video were likely replicas of pieces that had been moved to safety or are kept in museums in the West, experts say.
But several were originals, including the colossal granite Assyrian winged bull at Nergal gate in central Mosul which jihadists armed with a jackhammer can be seen defacing.
After wrecking the giant statue, IS militants reportedly told the guards of the vast archaeological site that the ancient city of Nimrud, south of Mosul, was next on their list.