Iraqi troops recapture Nimrud, a 3,000-year-old Assyrian city

Iraqi soldiers recaptured the town of Nimrud on Sunday and the nearby ruins of the 3,000-year-old Assyrian city which was overrun and bulldozed two years ago by Islamic State militants.

Nimrud, once the capital of an empire stretching across the ancient Middle East, is one of several historic sites looted and ransacked by the militants when they seized large parts of northern Iraq two years ago.

The militant group, whose ultra-hardline doctrine deems the country's pre-Islamic religious heritage idolatrous, released video footage last year showing its fighters bulldozing, drilling and blowing up murals and statues at Nimrud.