IS beheads elderly ex-antiquities chief in Syria's Palmyra

[WorldNews]

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The Islamic State group has beheaded the 82-year-old retired chief archaeologist of Palmyra, who refused to leave the ancient city when the jihadists captured it, Syria's antiquities chief said. A UNESCO World Heritage site famed for well-preserved Greco-Roman ruins, Palmyra was seized from government forces in May amid fears IS might destroy its priceless heritage as it had done in other parts of Syria and Iraq. Syrian antiquities chief Maamoun Abdulkarim told AFP he had urged Khaled al-Assaad to leave Palmyra, but he had refused.

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