AKIPRESS.COM - Militants from the Islamic State group have destroyed part of the Roman amphitheatre in the ancient city of Palmyra, Syrian officials say.

The facade of the second-century amphitheatre and a group of four pillared gates called a tetrapylon have been ruined, state media report.

The jihadists recaptured the Unesco-listed archaeological site in December from government troops, BBC reported.

IS previously held the site for ten months up to March 2016.

The group is known to have destroyed other monuments before it was forced out by a Russian-backed government offensive.

The Syrian antiquities chief, Maamoun Abdulkarim, confirmed the latest destruction to Reuters news agency, but did not say exactly when it is believed to have taken place.

However, the two monuments were intact when IS retook the ancient site and the nearby city known locally as Tadmur last month.