Islamic State (IS) militants have killed an archaeologist who looked after ancient ruins of Palmyra in Syria for 40 years.
Khaled al-Asaad had been held for about a month by the group, which seized the UNESCO World Heritage site in May.
The 81-year-old’s family informed Syria’s director of antiquities Maamoun Abdul Karim that he had been beheaded.
Islamic State (IS) militants have killed an archaeologist who looked after ancient ruins of Palmyra in Syria for 40 years.
Islamic State (IS) militants have killed an archaeologist who looked after ancient ruins of Palmyra in Syria for 40 years.
Khaled al-Asaad had been held for about a month by the group, which seized the UNESCO World Heritage site in May.
The 81-year-old’s family informed Syria’s director of antiquities Maamoun Abdul Karim that he had been beheaded.
He described Asaad as “one of the most important pioneers in Syrian archaeology in the 20th Century”.
IS has demolished several ancient sites in Iraq, and there are fears that it will destroy Palmyra, one of the archaeological jewels of the Middle East.
Palmyra, the Syrian city is full of ancient monuments and temples.
The Syrian state news agency, Sana, and the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that Asaad had been beheaded on Tuesday in the city’s public square as people watched.
His body was then hung from one of the Graeco-Roman columns, Abdul Karim said.
IS militants had tried to extract information from him about where some of Palmyra’s treasures had been hidden to save them from destruction, Abdul Karim added.
Asaad spent most of his life working to promote and protect Palmyra.
He was in charge of the site for four decades until 2003, when he retired. He then worked as an expert with the antiquities and museums department.
He was also a university professor.
ISIS seized Palmyra — a UNESCO World Heritage Site dating back in 2,000 years — in May.
Since overrunning the city, IS has destroyed a 2nd-Century statue of a lion and two nearby Islamic shrines, which it described as “manifestations of polytheism”.
The group also released a video in July showing some 20 captured government soldiers being shot dead at Palmyra’s theatre.
Syrian government forces have sought to drive IS out of the Palmyra area in recent months and there has been fierce fighting in nearby towns.
As it has conquered territory, ISIS has destroyed archaeological sites, claiming that it considers religious shrines idolatrous.
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