Islamic State group fighters have entered the museum in the historic Syrian city of Palmyra, placing guards at its doors, the country’s antiquities director Mamoun Abdulkarim said Saturday. Abdulkarim also confirmed the jihadist group had raised its flag over the ancient citadel that overlooks some of the spectacular Greco-Roman ruins in the city. Speaking at a news conference in Damascus, he said some modern plaster statues in the museum had been destroyed but he did not report any damage to antiquities in the building. The jihadists on Thursday ‘entered the museum and broke some plaster statues… that were being used to represent life in prehistoric eras.’ They returned on Friday, and when they left, ‘they closed the doors behind them and placed their guards’ at the entrance of the museum, Abdulkarim said, citing residents still in the town. Most of the antiquities in the museum were removed and brought to

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