Beirut: Islamic State fighters have killed at least 400 people in Syria’s ancient city of Palmyra, most of them women and children, Syrian state television said on Sunday.

It said it was quoting residents inside the city, which is known as Tadmur in Arabic and is home to renowned Roman-era ruins including well-preserved temples, colonnades and a theatre.

Opposition activists have said on social media that hundreds of bodies were in the streets of the city after it was seized by the ultra hardline group on Wednesday. They said they were believed to be government loyalists.