The self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) released a video on Thursday showing militants using sledgehammers to smash ancient Assyrian and Akkadian sculptures in the Mosul Museum.The five-minute video shows a group of bearded men using hammers and drills to destroy several large statues, then a black-clad man destroying a winged-bull Assyrian protective deity, which dates back to the 7th centure B.C, at a nearby archaeological site in Mosul.Telling the camera that people used to worship these idols and statues instead of Allah, a bearded ISIS militant says: "Allah ordered us to eliminate these idols without worry even if they are worth millions of dollars," with the demolished winged-bull in the background."The so-called Assyrians and Akkadians and others looked to gods for war, agriculture and rain to whom they offered sacrifices," he added, referring to groups that that left their mark on Mesopotamia for more than 5,000 years in what is now Iraq, eastern Syria and southern Turkey.A professor at the Archaeology College in Mosul confirmed to the Associated Press that the two sites depicted in the video are the city museum and a site known as Nirgal Gate, one of several gates to the capital of the Assyrian Empire, Ninevah."I'm totally shocked," Amir al-Jumaili told AP over the phone from outside of Mosul. "It's a catastrophe. With the destruction of these artifacts, we can no longer be proud of Mosul's civilization."Yesterday it was revealed how terrorists had blown up Mosul Public Library, destroying approximately 8,000 books, including works from the period of the Ottoman Empire.