Islamic State posts snaps of major Syria gas factory being blown up

Damascus: The Islamic State posted photos of what it said was bombing of Syria's largest gas factory, as sources in the Oil Ministry in Damascus said the photos seemed real but the bombing has not yet been confirmed.

IS's Amaq News Agency posted photos on Sunday, showing the militants booby-trapping and blowing up the Hayyan gas factory in the eastern countryside of Homs province in central Syria.

Sources in the Oil Ministry were cited by pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV on Monday as saying that the photos of the factory while being booby-trapped were real, but added that the later photos of the explosion, which were taken from a distance, could not confirm if the factory itself was blown up or just its exterior.

If true, it would be the largest economic facility in Syria to be blown up by the IS since the eruption of crisis nearly six years ago.

Hayyan gas factory is the largest facility of gas feeding electricity station in central and southern Syria. Its production is estimated at three million cubic metres daily. The facility's establishment cost the government over 280 million euros.

The IS stormed the facility when it overran, for the second time, the ancient city of Palmyra in the eastern countryside of Homs last month.