Palmyra battles kill 400 IS militants

More than 400 Islamic State (IS) militants were killed in recent battles in Syria's ancient city of Palmyra, a monitor group reported on Sunday, as the Syrian army has fully captured the millennia-old oasis city.

During the three-week-long military campaign backed by Russian and Shiite fighters, the Syrian army has killed more than 400 IS militants, while lost 180 of its own soldiers, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Meanwhile, the national Syrian TV said the Syrian army has fully recaptured the ancient city of Palmyra, which was controlled by the IS militants since last May.

The Syrian army and its allied fighters destroyed the last position of the IS in Palmyra, and started combing the city to dismantle explosive devices, said the report.

Meanwhile, a military source told Xinhua that the IS withdrew from the city under the heavy attacks and shelling by the Syrian army.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the IS militants pulled out toward the town of Sukhneh, east of the central province of Homs.

Since capturing it last May, the IS group destroyed the city's military prison and several Islamic tombs.

The IS also put on public executions of soldiers and people accused of working for the government.

Palmyra contains the monumental ruins of a great city that was one of the most important cultural centers of the ancient world.

Syria has many prehistoric, Greek, Byzantine and Islamic heritages. Before the crisis, Syria had attracted many multinational archaeological missions coming to search for new clues of historical facts on the development of civilizations. Endit