ISIS blows up two ancient mausoleums in Palmyra - update

(ANSA) - Rome, June 23 - 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.