ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - At least 53 people were killed in an Islamic State (ISIS) ambush in central Syria, state media reported on Friday. ISIS has not immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
The victims were hunting for desert truffles near the town of al-Sokhna in eastern Homs when the attack occurred. The bodies of the victims were taken to hospital for autopsy and the director of Palmyra State Hospital told state media SANA that they were killed by gunshots to the head.
On Sunday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) raised the death toll to at least 68.
Five others were injured by shrapnel and are receiving medical treatment.
A survivor told SANA that the militants torched their vehicles at the site of the attack.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, 46 civilians are dead and seven ISIS militants, including one officer, were killed in the attack.
The Observatory also reported that in a similar attack on truffle hunters, more than 75 people were kidnapped by ISIS on February 12. Sixteen of them have been executed, including a woman and a member of the Syrian army. The fate of the rest remains unknown.
After their territorial defeat in March 2019 to a military operation led by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and backed by a United States-led global coalition, ISIS militants have carried out hit and run attacks on civilians and military targets of both the Syrian regime and the Kurdish-led authority in the northwest of the country.
Updated on February 19, 2023 at 11:00am
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