Isil Murders Scholar Who Hid Treasures of Palmyra

Khaled Asad, the Director of Antiquities and Museum in Palmyra

THE TELEGRAPH: Isil extremists behead revered antiquities scholar Khaled al-Asaad in ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, says government official

Militants from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) have killed a revered archaeologist in the Syrian city of Palmyra, after he refused to give up the secrets of its ancient treasures.

Syrian state antiquities chief Maamoun Abdulkarim said on Tuesday that 82-year-old Khaled al-Asaad, longtime director of the Palmyra museum, was beheaded in a local square before his body was placed on display in public.

The archaeologist had been detained and interrogated for over a month by Isil, Mr Abdulkarim told Reuters. The jihadists had wanted to extract information about the whereabouts of precious Palmyra antiquities which had been removed as the extremist group advanced on the city. » | Louisa Loveluck | Wednesday, August 19, 2015