It is not clear when the Nabu temple was destroyed, but some of the ancient cultural sites in Nimrud were ruined by ISIS using bulldozers and explosives last year, according to BBC.
ISIS also sparked widespread condemnation last year for destroying many cultural relics at the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria.
There are two reasons why ISIS uses destruction of cultural relics in propaganda, according to Michael Danti, professor of archaeology at Boston University and co-director of the Syrian Heritage Initiative (SHI) at the American Schools of Oriental Research.
One is to influence the local population.
“They use it to tell the local population, ‘Well, they’re reacting to the destruction of these ancient idols, but do they really care about you, or your local mosque or these other issues that are affecting your life right now?” he said.
Most of the cultural sites ISIS destroys are actually Muslim, Danti told National Geographic last year.
ISIS first targets cultural sites of other Muslim sects, like Shia and Sufi. “After that they target pre-Islamic heritage,” Danti said.
The other reason is distraction, and to keep up morale.
Last year, a video of destruction in Nimrud coincided with ISIS defeat at Tikrit. ISIS has now suffered setbacks on several fronts in the region where it captured large swaths of territory two years ago, including the loss of the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra earlier this year.
