ISIS blows up Palmyra funerary towers

London, Sept 4: The Islamic State (ISIS) militants have destroyed three funerary towers at the Syrian city of Palmyra, media reported.

"The best preserved and most beautiful had been destroyed," BBC reported on Friday citing Syria's antiquities chief Maamoun Abdul Karim as saying.

The multi-storey sandstone monuments, standing outside the city walls in an area known as the Valley of the Tombs, belonged to rich Palmyrene families.

ISIS militants also blew up two main temples in Palmyra, captured by the militants in May this year.

The group, which captured the Unesco World Heritage site from government forces in May, has previously destroyed two Islamic shrines near

Palmyra, which they described as "manifestations of polytheism".

The cultural vandalism by the ISIS has been condemned by the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (ISESCO).

OneIndia News