ISIL blows up two Ancient Islamic Shrines in Palmyra

KABUL: (Middle East Press) The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group have destroyed two ancient Muslim shrines in the historic Syrian city of Palmyra, the country’s antiquities director said Tuesday.

Photographs posted online appeared to show the shrines, 4km from Palmyra, being blown up and reduced to rubble on Saturday.

In the Photos published by ISIS showed two armed men carrying canisters, apparently filled with explosives, walking up the rocky hill to the site.

Abu Bahaaeddine’s tomb, nestled in a leafy oasis about 500 meters (yards) from Palmyra’s ancient ruins, is said to be more than five centuries old.

ISIL has destroyed at least 50 mausoleums dating between 100-200 years old in the regions under its control in north and east Syria, the antiquities director said. “They consider these Islamic mausoleums to be against their beliefs, and they ban all visits to these sites,” Maamoun Abdulkarim ISIL jihadis said.

Ten days ago, fighters from the jihadi group also destroyed a number of tombstones at a cemetery for Palmyra residents, Abulkarim told AFP