IS kills 20 men in ruins of Syria's Palmyra: monitor

The Islamic State jihadist group shot dead at least 20 men in the ruins of Syria's ancient city Palmyra today, accusing them of fighting for the government, a monitoring group said.
"IS executed 20 men by firing on them in front of a crowd gathered in Palmyra's Roman theatre, after accusing them of fighting for the Syrian regime," Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP.
"IS gathered a lot of people there on purpose, to show their force on the ground," Abdel Rahman said.
IS has carried out a string of atrocities including videotaped beheadings and mass killings, rape and enslavement in areas it controls in Syria and neighbouring Iraq.

IS seized Palmyra, including its UNESCO world heritage site, on May 21, after a bloody assault that lasted nine days.
The Britain-based Observatory said IS had executed at least 217 people, including 67 civilians, in and around the city.