Rubble and ash in Mosul museum retaken from Islamic State
MOSUL, Iraq — The antiquities museum in the Iraqi city of Mosul is in ruins. Piles of rubble fill exhibition halls and a massive fire in the building’s basement has reduced hundreds of rare books and manuscripts to ankle-deep drifts of ash.
Associated Press reporters were granted rare access to the museum on Wednesday after Iraqi forces retook it from the Islamic State group the day before.
After examining AP photographs of the destruction, two Iraqi archeologists confirmed that many of the artifacts destroyed by IS were the original ancient stone statues dating back thousands of years, rather than replicas as some Iraqi officials and experts previously claimed.
IS captured Mosul in 2014 and released a video the following year showing fighters smashing artifacts in the museum with sledgehammers and power tools. The voice narrating the IS video justified the acts with verses from the Qur’an referencing the prophet Mohammed’s destruction of idols in the Kaaba.