The attack on Friday, attributed to the Islamic State (IS) group, in central Syria caused at least 68 deaths, according to a new balance from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH).
“In total, 61 civilians and seven soldiers died in this attack,” carried out in the eastern Homs province, a desert region in the center of the country, Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the OSDH, which is based in the country, told AFP. the UK and an extensive network of informants in Syria.
The victims were collecting truffles, which are generally harvested between February and April, like those of the attack perpetrated on February 11 in the same region and which resulted in the death of 16 people and some sixty kidnapped, according to the OSDH.
According to the same source, the attackers arrived on a motorcycle.
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The jihadist group’s propaganda organs have not claimed responsibility for the attack, but Syrian state television had reported on Friday about “53 civilians killed by IS in the southeast of the city of Sokhneh.”
It would be the deadliest attack carried out by the jihadist organization in more than a year, since the attack on a prison controlled by Kurdish forces in northwest Syria.
That assault left 373 dead, including 268 jihadists, after several days of intense fighting, according to the OSDH.
Syria has been the scene of a civil war since 2011 that began with the repression of pro-democracy demonstrations, which left half a million dead and forced millions of people to abandon their homes, in addition to leaving the country fragmented.