At least 53 people have been reported killed in a deadly attack in Syria’s Central Desert Province of Homs, state media has reported.
State News Agency-SANA reported on Friday, February 17 that the bodies of the victims that were taken to the Palmyra State Hospital had gunshot wounds to the head.
The State Media said the victims had been gathering desert truffles when they were attacked.
Homs province is significantly controlled by the Syrian government and its allies who stay there.
“53 Syrians who were truffle hunting were killed during the deadly attack by the terrorists of IS to the southwest of the town of Al-Sokhna in the desert east of Homs’’, State Television reported.
The director of Palmyra Hospital, Walid Audi, said that the dead were 46 civilians and 7 soldiers. 5 people who were seriously injured were transferred to another Hospital. One of the survivors told SANA that ISIL fighters had burned their cars for no reason.
During the incident that happened, there were no immediate claims of responsibility for the attack.
If confirmed that ISIL was responsible, the attack would mark the deadliest by the group since January last year, when its fighters stormed a prison in the Kurdish-controlled northeastern city of Hassakeh in a bid to free fellow ISIL members.
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The group once controlled vast swathes of territory in Syria but lost its hold on land in separate offensives by US-backed fighters, Syrian government forces backed by Russia, regional fighters, and Turkish-backed rebels.
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Many people, including women and children, have been targeted in recent years while truffle hunting in central, northeastern, and eastern areas of Syria.
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Syrian government troops are spread thin across the country and rely heavily on their allies including the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah and Iran to maintain control over territory.
The United States Central Command said on Friday that 4 US military personnel were injured in a blast during a raid that killed a senior ISIL leader in Syria, identified as Hamza al-Homsi.
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