This undated photo released Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2015, on a social media site used by Islamic State militants, which has been verified and is consistent with other AP reporting, shows smoke from the detonation of the 2,000-year-old temple of Baalshamin in Syria's ancient caravan city of Palmyra. Activists say the Islamic State group in has killed three captives on Monday, Oct. 26, 2015 in Syria's ancient city of Palmyra by tying them to Roman-era columns at the site, then blowing the structures up with explosives.(Photo: Uncredited, AP)
The Islamic State executed three detainees in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra by strapping them to pillars and then blowing them up along with the antiquities, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.
"This execution is the first<span style="color: Red;">*</span>of<span style="color: Red;">*</span>its<span style="color: Red;">*</span>kind by the Islamic State, the organization (that) in recent months has invented new ways of execution," the observatory<span style="color: Red;">*</span>said in a statement late Monday. The London-based group said it obtained its information from local sources.
The report came just days after the observatory released footage Saturday that appeared to show Islamic State militants<span style="color: Red;">*</span>executing a teenage Syrian soldier by running him over with a tank. Before being executed, the soldier is shown "confessing" to having used a tank himself to run over bodies of Islamic State<span style="color: Red;">*</span>soldiers, the observatory said.
The Islamic State has consistently used the Internet and social media to publicize its brutality. Last year, the terror group<span style="color: Red;">*</span>released a series of videos showing the beheadings of western aide workers. In January, it released<span style="color: Red;">*</span>a video showing a young boy executing prisoners the Islamic State called<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"spies."
The Islamic State also has been unabashed in its<span style="color: Red;">*</span>destruction of antiquities at Palmyra, claiming the archaeological sites and statues<span style="color: Red;">*</span>promote idolatry.
USA TODAY
Officials: ISIL destroys Palmyra's Arch of Triumph
USA TODAY
Activists: Islamic State destroys ancient temple at Syria's Palmyra
The first-known settlement at Palmyra dates to<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the second millennium B.C.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>The Islamic State took the city from Syrian military forces in May during an offensive that resulted in domination of a wide swath of the country. Islamic State militants beheaded the city's antiquities expert and have been destroying<span style="color: Red;">*</span>archaeological artifacts ever since, sometimes releasing photos as proof.
In August, the Islamic State<span style="color: Red;">*</span>announced the destruction of the Baalshamin temple, which had an altar dating to 115 AD, and released photos of the effort.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Irina Bokova, the director-general of UNESCO, described the temple's destruction as<span style="color: Red;">*</span>war crime and "immense loss for the Syrian people."
Earlier this month, the militants reportedly blew up Palmyra's iconic<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Arch of Triumph, resulting in Maamun Abdulkarim, Syria's head of antiquities, pleading with the international community to "find a way to save Palmyra."
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