Story highlights ISIS supporters post photos of the destruction of the temple

UNESCO says the destruction of the temple is "a new war crime"

ISIS seized the Palmyra ruins in Syria in May, prompting fears for the ancient site

(CNN) Following the destruction of a nearly 2,000-year-old historic ruin in Syria -- an act the United Nations cultural organization called a war crime -- ISIS followed up with images of how it blasted the site.

ISIS supporters on Tuesday posted photos that show the destruction of the Baalshamin temple in Palmyra, Syria.

Maamoun Abdulkarim, Syria's director-general of antiquities and museums, said that sources in Palmyra informed him that ISIS members rigged the temple with large quantities of explosives and detonated them. The photos showing the destruction are real, he said.

The series of photos shows men rolling barrels of explosives into the temple and strapping them to columns, then a mushroom cloud with a final photo of a pile of rubble.

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Captions on the photos claim that ISIS used IEDs, improvised explosive devices, to completely level the temple, which dates back to the first century.