Now ISIS tears down the Cross: Chilling photographs reveal how Islamic State thugs have ravaged Christian churches

This chilling image shows an ISIS thug destroying a cross on a church and replacing it with the ISIS banner

• ISIS militants pictured toppling crosses and smashing relics in Nineveh
• Latest evidence of ISIS trying to cleanse caliphate of Christian heritage
• Also attacked ancient city of Nimrud and 2000-year-old fortress city Hatra 

Shocking new images released today have shown ISIS terrorists toppling crosses, smashing Christian relics with hammers and erecting the black flag of ISIS on churches in Iraq.

The latest photos show the militants vandalising churches in Nineveh, the ancient capital of the Assyrian empire.

Pictured in civilian clothing, the ISIS thugs are seen overturning statues, destroying religious icons and replacing Christian crosses with the chilling ISIS banner.

Dressed in civilian clothing, a militant takes a claw hammer to a priceless relief at a Nineveh church

ISIS have killed Christians who have refused to convert to Islam and want to cleanse its caliphate of its Christian heritage 

The disturbing images - provided by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) - are the latest evidence of ISIS trying to cleanse its caliphate of its Christian heritage.

ISIS claim ancient relics promote idolatry that violates their fundamentalist interpretation of Islamic law.  

MEMRI director Steven Stalinsky said: 'They don't care what it's called; they are just following their ideology and that means getting rid of churches and minorities. It is the Islamic State, and there's no room for anyone else.

'This has been going on for some time, a systematic campaign to rid the region of any vestiges of Christianity.' 

In February, the terrorist organisation decapitated 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians on the shores of Libya and then kidnapped more than 220 Assyrian Christians when militants swept into about 12 villages. 

Thousands of other Iraqi Christians have fled their homes in fear and are having to find temporary accommodation in the surrounding region.  

Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican's top diplomat at the UN in Geneva, said yesterday the jihadists were committing 'genocide' and must be stopped. 

The Vatican traditionally opposes military intervention in the region. 

ISIS claim ancient relics promote idolatry that violates their fundamentalist interpretation of Islamic law

Two ISIS militants overturn a cross on a Christian site in Nineveh in the organisation's latest shocking act

ISIS currently controls a swath of land slightly larger than the UK, from Aleppo to central Iraq.   

The fanatics have caused outrage by destroying several ancient relics and sites in Iraq recently, as well as books and rare manuscripts.  

Earlier this month, ISIS went on a rampage in the Assyrian city of Nimrud in northern Iraq, destroying the 3,000 year-old winged statues placed at the gates of the Palace of Ashurnasirpal. 

They also bulldozed 2,000-year-old Hatra - another UNESCO World Heritage site.  

In recent weeks, ISIS have also set off bombs around Mosul Central Library, destroying as many as 10,000 priceless and irreplaceable books and manuscripts. 

ISIS destroy artefacts with sledgehammers at Mosul museum

Nineveh, in northern Iraq, was once the largest city in the world with a population of as many as 150,000 people in 700BC - it lies close to Mosul, the largest city under ISIS control