Fears as IS militants destroy historic sites

Islamic State militants have destroyed two historic mausoleums in Palmyra, Syria’s top antiquities official has said.

The move raises fears that the extremists could next target the town’s famed Roman ruins.

Maamoun Abdulkarim, the head of the government’s Antiquities and Museums Department, said that the extremists destroyed the grave of Mohammad Bin Ali, a descendant of Imam Ali, cousin of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad and a deeply revered Shi’ite saint.