Islamic State militants attacked villagers gathering truffles in eastern Syria on Wednesday, killing at least 18 people and leaving dozens injured and missing, opposition activists and pro-government media said.
They said it was one of the deadliest attacks by the Islamic State group in the region in more than a year. The attack occurred in a desert area near the town of Kobajab in the eastern province of Deir ez-Zor, which borders Iraq.
Although the armed group was defeated in Syria in March 2019, “Islamic State” sleeper cells continue to carry out deadly attacks in Syria and neighboring Iraq, across large swathes of territory where the extremists once ruled the Islamic Caliphate.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the opposition war monitor, said Wednesday’s attack killed 18 people and wounded 16 others. About 50 people are said to be missing and may have been abducted by Islamic State. Twelve vehicles were burned.
The Observatory said the dead included four members of the pro-government defense force, which had sent reinforcements to the area.
Pro-government media Dama Post said the death toll was as high as 44 and that about 13 vehicles used by truffle growers were set on fire.
The different casualty figures could not immediately be verified. Varying death tolls are not uncommon after deadly attacks in Syria.
Truffles are a seasonal delicacy that can fetch high prices. In Syria, where 90% of the population lives below the poverty line, many people go out to collect truffles.
As truffle hunters work in groups in remote areas, they have been preyed upon repeatedly in previous years by Islamic State militants, who emerge from the desert to kill many and kidnap others to extort money.
In February 2023, “Islamic State” militants attacked truffle hunters in the central Syrian desert, killing dozens of civilians and security officials.
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