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| Palmyra's Baalshamin temple 'blown up by IS' | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Islamic State militants have destroyed Palmyra's ancient temple of Baalshamin, Syrian officials and activists say. | |
| Syria's head of antiquities was quoted as saying the temple was blown up on Sunday. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that it happened one month ago. | |
| IS took control of Palmyra in May, sparking fears the group might demolish the Unesco World Heritage site. | |
| The group has destroyed several ancient sites in Iraq. | |
| IS "placed a large quantity of explosives in the temple of Baalshamin today and then blew it up causing much damage to the temple," Syrian antiquities chief Maamoun Abdulkarim told AFP news agency. | |
| Residents who had fled from Palmyra also said IS had planted explosives at the temple, although they had done it about one month ago, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. | |
| Last month, IS published photos of militants destroying what it said were artefacts looted at Palmyra. | |
| Last week, it emerged that the 81-year-old archaeologist who had looked after Palmyra's ruins for four decades had been beheaded by the the militant group. |