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ISIS fighters have killed at least 400 people, including women and children, in Palmyra since capturing the ancient city four days ago, Syrian state media said Sunday. It was not immediately possible to verify the account, but it was consistent with reports by activists that the Islamist fighters had carried out extra-judicial executions since capturing the Syrian city from government troops, The Daily Star reports.

Some anti-regime activists in Syria, however, disputed the account, saying that the victims were regime informers and soldiers.

The militants Wednesday seized the city of 50,000 people, site of some of the world’s most extensive and best preserved ancient Roman ruins.

“The terrorists have killed more than 400 people including women and children ... and mutilated their bodies, under the pretext that they cooperated with the government and did not follow orders,” Syria’s state news agency said, citing residents inside the city.

It added that dozens of those killed were state employees, including the head of the nursing department at the hospital and all her family members.

ISIS supporters have posted videos on the Internet they say show fighters going room to room in government buildings, searching for government troops and pulling down pictures of President Bashar Assad and his father.

Activists have said on social media that hundreds of bodies, believed to be government loyalists, were in the streets.