BEIRUT-Islamic State militants have beheaded one of the Syria’s most prominent antiquities scholars in the ancient Roman city of Palmyra, the Syrian government said Wednesday.
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“Dozens of people” are said to have witnessed him die to protect the artifacts.
Mr Abdulkarim added that Mr Asaad was known for scholarly works published in archaeological journals on Palmyra, which in antiquity flourished as an important trading hub along the Silk Road.
A leading Syrian archaeologist held hostage by Islamic State militants has been beheaded by his captors and his body strung up in public.
Khaled al-As’ad, an 82-year-old archeologist, was killed and then hung upon a column in the main square of the city because he would not reveal to the Islamic State where valuable artifacts had been moved for safety.
State media quotes the national antiquities chief claiming ISIS had tried to get information from Asaad, who had refused, and says the militants exhibited the body by hanging it from a column.
“Syria had hundreds of ancient sites and museums before the civil war began, but much heritage has been damaged by various parties”. He was in charge of the site for four decades until 2003, when he retired. According to the Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums Web site, one of the tombs destroyed is that of Mohammed bin Ali, a descendent of Ali bin Abi Taleb, the Prophet Mohammed’s cousin.
Abdulkarim said that the scholar had been taken a month ago by militiamen and the Sunni extremists interrogated him continuously until his execution, which took place yesterday.
Among his titles are “The Palmyra sculptures, ‘ and ‘Zenobia, the Queen of Palmyra and the Orient”.
The Sana news agency said he had discovered several ancient cemeteries, caves and a Byzantine cemetery in the garden of the Palmyra museum.
A sign attached to the body accused the victim of being loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad and of managing Palmyra’s collection of “idols”, the Guardian reported.
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In a press release UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Director-General Irina Bokova said: “I am both saddened and outraged to learn of the brutal murder of Khaled Asaad, who oversaw antiquities at the UNESCO World Heritage site at Palmyra…”
