Islamic State militants have executed an antiquities expert in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra.<br /><br /> Khaled Assad was taken hostage by the group shortly after they captured the UNESCO World Heritage city in May. <br /><br /> Syria’s director of antiquities Maamoun Abdulkarim said Mr Assad’s family had informed him that the 82-year-old scholar had been publicly executed and his body hung in the main square on Tuesday.<br /><br /> Khaled Asad, 82 years old, antiquities scholar in #palmyra beheaded and hung his body on a column by IS #Syria pic.twitter.com/72BPES7lma— Nasser Atta (@nasseratta5) August 19, 2015<br /> <br /><br /> Assad had been working in Palmyra for 50 years and was head of antiquities at the Roman-era ruins, considered one of the most important historical sites in the Middle East.<br /><br /> ISIL militants have previously destroyed precious artefacts in Iraq and Syria but it is unknown whether they have damaged sites in Palmyra.
