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                  Mines Riddle Syrian Ruins After IS Takeover

   by VOA News

   Islamic State militants have placed mines throughout the UNESCO World
   Heritage site of Palmyra in Syria, an antiquities official and conflict
   monitor said Sunday, one month after the group entered the city.

   The explosives were laid on Saturday, according to the Britain-based
   Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which gathers information from
   sources inside the country.

   "It is not known if the purpose is to blow up the ruins or to prevent
   regime forces from advancing into the town," Observatory director Rami
   Abdel Rahman told the French News Agency.

   A museum at the site was emptied before the militants arrived in late
   May. The move was prompted by previous Islamic State attacks on artwork
   and artifacts during its campaign to establish a so-called "caliphate"
   across Syria and Iraq.

   However, ruins from the ancient city, also known as Tadmur, could not
   be relocated.

   In December, the U.N. said that during Syria's conflicts - which now
   includes violence from a civil war and the Islamic State group - more
   than 300 cultural heritage sites have been destroyed, damaged or
   looted.
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References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/mines-islamic-state-palmyra/2831579.html