Remains of victims of the Armenian Genocide were safeguarded at the church.
Jihadists of the Islamic State have destroyed an Armenian church in Deir el Zor, a city in Eastern Syria with a Kurdish majority, which they recently conquered.
The news, spread by local witnesses, was confirmed by the Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian, who condemned the destruction of the church as a "horrific barbarity." Remains of victims of the Armenian Genocide were safeguarded at the church.
The church was consecrated in 1991 as a memorial of the Genocide and also included a museum dedicated to the tragedy, which took place a century ago in Ottoman territory.
In August, in the governorate of Deir el-Zor, Islamic State jihadists killed hundreds of members of a local tribal clan, and in recent months also fought with the Islamist militiamen of the al-Nusra rival faction to gain control of the area.
