Syrian activists say militants killed 12 captives in Palmyra

BEIRUT — The Islamic State has killed 12 people it held captive in Syria’s ancient Palmyra by shooting and beheading them, with some of the slayings carried out in the city’s second-century Roman amphitheater, activists said Thursday.

The extremist group had recaptured the city in December from government troops — nine months after the Islamic State was expelled from there in a Russia-backed offensive and while Syrian government forces were focused on retaking the eastern half of the city of Aleppo from rebels.

When they previously controlled Palmyra, Islamic State militants had used the Roman amphitheater for public killings, including those in a video showing 25 boys with pistols shooting captured Syrian soldiers, the ancient colonnades visible in the background.

The Observatory and the Palmyra Monitor said the others — four opposition fighters and four pro-government troops — were first shot, then beheaded in the Roman amphitheater or in a former Russian base in Palmyra.