• The IS captured the city in May 2015 and began blowing up some of the major landmarks at the Unesco-listed world heritage site
• Palmyra dates back 4,000 years but most of the ruins date from the Roman period which began around the 27 BC
• In August 2015, the IS terrorists beheaded Khaled Asaad, 81, the city's chief archaeologist

A video was released by the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group showed extremists smashing up ancient sculptures and driving a lorry over mummies in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra.

The IS captured the city in May 2015 and began blowing up some of the major landmarks at the Unesco-listed world heritage site, the Daily Mail reported on Friday, July 8.

Palmyra dates back 4,000 years but most of the ruins date from the Roman period which began around the 27 BC.

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The IS decimated the famous Arch of Triumph, the Temple of Baalshamin and the Temple of Bel and left mines and booby traps in much of the ruins. The group also used the 2,000-year-old Roman amphitheatre to conduct public executions.

They looted the city's museums and the video showed them vandalising its precious exhibits.

In August 2015, the IS terrorists beheaded Khaled Asaad, 81, the city's chief archaeologist.

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The IS were finally forced out of the area in March. Russian drone footage, filmed shortly after Palmyra was recaptured, showed some parts of the ruins had escaped destruction.

Many of Palmyra's temples and tombs were bombed by the IS in what the UN described as a war crime. (IANS)

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