(Damascus) At least 53 civilians were killed Friday in an attack attributed to the Islamic State (IS) group in central Syria, state television said.
The jihadist group has increased deadly attacks in recent months despite the loss of its strongholds in Syria and the blows inflicted by the international anti-jihadist coalition led by the United States.
« Fifty-three people who picked truffles were killed in an attack by Daesh terrorists [acronyme de l’EI en arabe, NDLR]southeast of the city of Sokhne in eastern Homs province,” Syrian state television said.
Among the killed are seven soldiers, said the director of the Palmyra hospital, Walid Audi, where the bodies of the victims were brought, quoted by the Syrian pro-government radio, Cham FM.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), an NGO based in the United Kingdom and with a vast network of sources in Syria, had given an initial assessment of 36 people killed. Seven soldiers are among the victims, she then clarified.
This attack comes a few days after a similar attack on Saturday in the same region that left 16 dead, according to the OSDH.
The victims were picking up truffles, according to the same source, who said that about sixty people had been kidnapped during this first attack.
According to the OSDH, the IS takes advantage of the fact that inhabitants of remote rural areas venture to pick up truffles in order to attack them.
The desert truffle, or sand truffle, is generally picked between February and April and sells for gold.