ISIL Beheads Elderly Ex-Antiquities Chief in Syria's Palmyra
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The ISIL terrorist group has beheaded the 82-year-old former antiquities director for the ancient city of Palmyra, Syria's antiquities chief and a monitor said.
Syria's antiquities Chief Maamoun Abdelkarim told AFP that Khaled Assaad was executed by the Takfiri group on Tuesday afternoon in Palmyra, in central Homs province.
"Daesh (ISIL) has executed one of Syria's most important antiquities experts," Abdelkarim said.
"He was the head of antiquities in Palmyra for 50 years and had been retired for 13 years... He was 82 years old," he added.
Abdelkarim said the former antiquities official's body had been hung in the ancient ruins in Palmyra after being beheaded.
A sign attached to the body identified it as that of Assaad.
Abdelkarim said Assaad had been detained by ISIL terrorists a month earlier and that they were looking for "stores of gold" in the city.
"I deny wholeheartedly that these stores exist," he said.
The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, also reported the execution, saying Assaad had been killed in a "public square in Palmyra in front of dozens of people".