Image copyright AFP Image caption Syrian troops retook Palmyra last Sunday 
 
 Syrian troops have found a mass grave containing about 40 bodies in the city of Palmyra following its recapture from the Islamic State (IS) group, state news agency Sana reports. 
 
 The grave containing the bodies of men, women and children was uncovered on the north-eastern edge of the city. 
 
 Some had been beheaded while others had been shot, a military source told AFP. 
 
 Meanwhile fighting between rebels and state forces has erupted south of the city of Aleppo, monitors said. 
 
 The rebels, including the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front, captured strategic territory from the government, according to UK-based activist group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. 
 
 A nationwide "cessation of hostilities" has been in place for over a month but it excludes both the Nusra front and IS. 
 
 Inside the ancient city recaptured from IS 
 
 Recapture of Palmyra tightens noose on IS 
 
 Islamic State group: The full story 
 
 The bodies found in Palmyra have been transferred to a military hospital in the provincial capital Homs. Some have reportedly been identified. 
 
 Among those found, according to the AFP source, were soldiers, members of pro-regime militia and their relatives. Twenty-four of the victims were civilians, including three children, the source added. 
 
 Last Sunday, the Syrian army, backed by Russian forces, recaptured Palmyra and its world-famous complex of ancient ruins, which IS overran in May last year. 
 
 IS militants executed at least 280 people during their occupation of the city, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group. 
 
 They also caused extensive damage to the world-renowned antiquities site. 
 
 Correspondents say the recapture of Palmyra is one of the biggest setbacks for IS since it declared a caliphate across swathes of Syria and Iraq in 2014. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The discovery of mass graves in Palmyra reveals the "human suffering" during the occupation by IS, says Alan Johnston 
 
 The Syrian army says it will use Palmyra - which has a military airport - as a launch pad to expand operations against IS and cut its supply routes. 
 
 Syrian military sources say the army is targeting IS-held towns including al-Qaryatain, south-west of Palmyra, and Sukhnah towards the north-east. 
 
 Russia's six-month air campaign against opponents of President Bashar al-Assad has turned the tide of the five-year civil war in the Syrian leader's favour. ||||| In this picture taken Friday, April 1, 2016, graffiti and damage are seen at the historical Bel Temple in the ancient city of Palmyra in the central city of Homs, Syria. Explosions rocked the ancient... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this picture taken Friday, April 1, 2016, graffiti and damage are seen at the historical Bel Temple in the ancient city of Palmyra in the central city of Homs, Syria. Explosions rocked the ancient town of Palmyra on Friday and on the horizon, black smoke wafted behind its majestic Roman ruins, as... (Associated Press) 
 
 PALMYRA, Syria (AP) — Explosions rocked the ancient town of Palmyra on Friday and on the horizon, black smoke wafted behind its majestic Roman ruins, as Syrian army experts carefully detonated hundreds of mines they say were planted by Islamic State militants before they fled the town. 
 
 An Associated Press crew visiting the town Friday witnessed firsthand the destruction inflicted by the extremist group on the town's famed archaeological site, less than a mile away from the modern-day town of the same name, now completely deserted. 
 
 While some parts of the site, including the Roman-era grand colonnades and amphitheater appeared relatively untouched, the damage was very much visible elsewhere. 
 
 The remarkable Arch of Triumph, built under the Roman emperor Septimius Severus between A.D. 193 and A.D. 211, has been reduced to a pile of stones, blown up by IS extremists who filmed the destruction for the world to see. The monumental arch once sat atop the famed colonnaded streets of the ancient town. 
 
 The Temple of Baalshamin and parts of the Temple of Bel, one of the best-preserved Roman-era sites, are also destroyed. 
 
 Apart from the Roman ruins themselves, heavy damage could be seen on parts of the walls of Palmyra's towering Mamluk-era citadel, built during the Islamic conquest in the 13th century. On top of the scarred citadel, a Syrian flag flies in the wind. 
 
 Palmyra is located about 248 kilometers (155 miles) east of Damascus, the Syrian capital. Government troops, backed by allied militiamen and Russian airstrikes retook the town on Sunday from IS militants who had controlled Palmyra and its environs for 10 months. 
 
 Ancient Palmyra is a UNESCO heritage site — an archaeological gem that attracted tens of thousands of tourists every year. 
 
 It was completely deserted on Friday, except for Syrian army soldiers working on dismantling explosives and visiting journalists. The town — about a kilometer away from the ruins — is completely deserted, its remaining residents had fled as the Syrian army's offensive against IS began a month ago. 
 
 Traces of the fighting could be seen all around. Burned cars parked on the side of the road, electricity cables strewn about on the streets, and scattered empty water tanks apparently used as barricades. 
 
 At the entrance to the Roman amphitheater, where IS filmed children shooting captive Syrian soldiers in the head, black graffiti is sprayed on a stone wall. 
 
 "Lasting and Expanding," it read in Arabic, a logo of the Islamic State group. "The Islamic State" is scribbled on another nearby wall. 
 
 A Syrian officer told reporters that more than 3,000 mines have so far been dismantled. "They booby-trapped everything, trees, doors, animals," he said, speaking of the militants. Russian sappers have arrived in Syria to help the Syrian army clear mines in and around the town. 
 
 Later Friday, Syria's state-run SANA news agency reported that Syrian engineering teams and popular defense groups uncovered a mass grave in a northeastern neighborhood of Palmyra containing the remains of about 40 people, 23 of them women and children. 
 
 The report, which could not be independently verified, said the people were killed by IS extremists. It said some bodies were beheaded, others bore signs of torture. 
 
 The recapture of Palmyra was a strategic coup for President Bashar Assad through which he hopes to convince the West that the Syrian army is a credible partner in combatting terror as it ramps up the fight against the Islamic State. 
 
 "The Syrian army is defending Rome and London in as much as it is defending Damascus," another officer told the visiting reporters Friday. Both officers spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to give statements to media crews. 
 
 He handed reporters a booklet he said the militants had apparently distributed to Palmyra residents. 
 
 It reads: "Loyalty to Islam, not to the nation." 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press writer Zeina Karam in Beirut contributed to this report.
– After recapturing the city of Palmyra from ISIS, Syrian troops discovered a mass grave containing the bodies of dozens of men, women, and children who had been decapitated or shot, AFP reports. The city, a UNESCO World Heritage Site known for its ancient ruins, was captured by ISIS last May. According to the BBC, one human rights group estimates that in the months since then ISIS executed at least 280 people. The mass grave found Friday contained 42 bodies, 24 of which were civilians and three of which were children. They were soldiers or supporters of the Assad regime and their relatives. Only some of the bodies have been identified so far. The reclaiming of Palmyra by Syrian troops last Sunday is seen by experts as one of the biggest setbacks for ISIS in two years. But its months in the hands of the terrorist group took a toll beyond the loss of life. The AP reports many of the ancient ruins that once drew tens of thousands of tourists every year were destroyed by ISIS, including the 1,800-year-old Arch of Triumph, two Roman-era temples, and a 13th century citadel. And what remains of the city following ISIS' occupation and Syrian and Russian airstrikes is empty. Residents are too afraid of either violence from the Assad regime or remaining ISIS landmines to return. One Syrian officer says they've dismantled 3,000 mines left by ISIS so far. "They booby-trapped everything, trees, doors, animals," he says.