According to activists and state media, at least 53 people were killed in an attack by the Islamic State (IS) terrorist organization in Syria. The attack took place in the eastern city of al-Sukhna, state agency SANA and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported today.
The terrorists were armed and on motorcycles, said the head of the observatory, Rami Abdel-Rahman, the dpa. First, IS fighters attacked a checkpoint and killed at least seven soldiers, then killed 46 civilians.
According to activists and SANA, people collected truffles near the deserted town before the attack. According to the observatory, several terrorists also managed to escape, along with some victims.
Senior IS member killed
Al-Suchna is located in the central province of Homs and became a strategically important stronghold for IS in 2015, before Syrian government troops drove the terrorist militia there two years later. Years ago, IS controlled large swaths of Syria and neighboring Iraq.
In the meantime, IS has been defeated militarily, but there are still active terrorist cells in both countries carrying out attacks.
Shortly before the attack became known, the US Department of Defense announced that the US military had killed a high-ranking member of ISIL in a helicopter strike in northeast Syria.