Islamic State militants have bulldozed and destroyed the ancient Assyrian City of Nimrud in Northern Iraq, a report by the Iraqi government and a local tribal member said.

A tribesman narrated that the Islamic State militants came to the Nimrud archeological city and stole valuable pieces. Then, they proceeded to level the site to the ground.

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He added that the statues, walls and a castle have been completely destroyed.

Nimrud is located south of Mosul in Northern Iraq.

It was an ancient city in the Assyrian kingdom, which had flourished between 900 B.C. and 612 B.C. Its museum contains around 173 pieces of antiquity.

Iraq's Ministry of Tourism said the Islamic militants destroyed the antiquities to show their defiance to the world.

The ministry also stated that the IS assaulted the ancient city, appropriating the archeological attractions dating back to 13 centuries BC.

Authorities have not completely assessed the extent of the damage.

"Our ministry condemns these criminal acts. Letting these lost gangs go without punishment will encourage them to destroy humanity's civilization, especially the Mesopotamian civilization, and ultimately inflicting irreversible, priceless damage and loss," tourism officials said.

The Antiquities Ministry's director general of Iraqi museums, Qais Hussain Rashid, said that before the destruction, the place was being prepared for a reopening.

According to the World Monument Fund's website, Nimrud and the adjacent Nineveh are the sites where two Assyrian kings, Sennacherib and Ashurnasirpal II, had recorded on their palace walls their successful military adventures.

Encyclopedia Britanica's website, meanwhile, says, the buildings at Nimrud contain thousands of carved ivories, mostly made in the 8th and 9th centuries B.C.

It states that Nimrud currently has "one of the richest collections of ivory in the world".

TagsNimrud, Iraq, Islamic militants