The Islamic State (ISIS)
fundamentalist militia has blown up two ancient mausoleums in
the Syrian archeological site of Palmyra, American media cited
the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights as reporting Tuesday.
ISIS reportedly claimed it has destroyed "a symbol of
polytheism".
Palmyra is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
A photo report published on the Islamist militant group's
Wilayat Homs media account and entitled Remove polytheism
landmarks in Tadmur/Palmyra City shows ISIS militants carrying
explosives to the hilltop tomb of Mohammed bin Ali, a descendant
of the Prophet Mohammed's cousin, which is then reduced to
rubble.
Bin Ali's burial place is located 4km north of Palmyra.
The jihadists also blew up the Shrine of Abu Behaeddine, a
religious figure from Palmyra.
The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights,
which relies on a network of local sources, also reported that
IS "completely destroyed" a shrine in the city.
Abu Beheaddine's tomb is located in a leafy oasis about
500m from Palmyra's ruins.
"They consider these Islamic mausoleums to be against
their beliefs, and they ban all visits to these sites," Syria's
antiquities director Maamoun Abulkarim told AFP.
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