DAMASCUS — ISIS militants published photos on Tuesday purporting to show the destruction of a Roman-era temple in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, an act the U.N. cultural agency UNESCO has called a war crime.

Syria’s antiquities chief, Maamoun Abdulkarim, told Reuters the images did appear to show the destruction of the ancient Baal Shamin temple and correlated with descriptions given by residents of the explosion detonated there on Sunday.

Five photos were distributed on social media showing explosives being carried inside, being planted around the walls of the temple, a large blast and then rubble.

The blast photo shows a huge cloud of grey smoke soaring above the temple, with ancient columns in the foreground.

UNESCO has described the temple and Palmyra’s surrounding sites as symbols of Syria’s historical cultural diversity, which it says ISIS seeking to obliterate.