Eight civilians who were picking desert truffles were killed and more than 35 others injured Thursday by the explosion of an antipersonnel mine in eastern Syria, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH).
The official Sana news agency, for its part, indicated that “five citizens had been killed and more than 40 injured” by the explosion of a mine “left by Daesh terrorists (Arabic acronym for the Islamic State (IS) group). , Editor’s note” as the truck that transported them to the province of Deir Ezzor passed.
This accident comes three days after the explosion of two other mines left by the IS which had claimed the lives of ten civilians and injured twelve others in the province of Hama (center), also while they were harvesting truffles, according to Sana .
In mid-February, an attack attributed to IS killed 68 people who were also harvesting truffles in the eastern province of Homs (center), according to the OSDH, a UK-based NGO. and who has an extensive network of sources in the country at war.
The Syrian desert truffle, considered to be among the best in the world, is generally picked between February and April and sells for exorbitant prices.
ISIS controlled large areas in Syria from 2014 encompassing almost all of the province of Deir Ezzor, before being dislodged in March 2019, during the territorial defeat of the jihadist group.
Nearly 10.2 million Syrians live in areas where explosive devices remain, which killed around 15,000 people from 2015 to 2022, according to the UN.
The country has been ravaged since 2011 by a conflict that has claimed the lives of half a million people and displaced millions of inhabitants.