ISIL destroys part of famed Palmyra temple: Monitor, activists

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) jihadist group has blown up parts of the Temple of Bel in Syria's ancient city of Palmyra, a monitor and activists said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said late on Aug. 30 that the jihadist group had placed explosives inside the famed temple, at least partially destroying the building considered Palmyra's most significant.
 
Mohamed Hassan al-Homsi, an activist from Palmyra, also reported the partial destruction on Aug. 30 night, a week after ISIL destroyed the Baal Shamin temple at the historic Greco-Roman site.
 
"They laid the explosives today, using booby-trapped boxes and barrels that were already prepared by IS [ISIL]," he said.    

"This was the most important temple for tourists and for the people of Palmyra. They used to hold festivals there."  

Homsi, who goes by a pseudonym, said the inner part of the temple was destroyed in the blast.
 
Syria's antiquities chief Maamoun Abdelkarim, reached by phone in Damascus, said he could not confirm the destruction  

"Rumours about these ruins are always coming out so we have to be careful about news like this," he said.
 
There were also no immediate images released by ISIL of the reported destruction.
 
The reports come a week after ISIL blew up the smaller Baal Shamin temple in the UNESCO-listed Palmyra ruins.
 
That destruction was first reported by activists and Abdelkarim, and later confirmed in images released by ISIL online.

This photo combo shows, left, the general view of the ancient Roman city of Palmyra, northeast of Damascus, Syria, released on Sunday, May 17, 2015, by the Syrian official news agency SANA. AP Photo

 
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