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Islamic State gunmen kill 20 Syrian soldiers in desert ambush in country's east

Islamic State group gunmen have ambushed a bus carrying Syrian soldiers early Friday in the country's east, killing at least 20 and wounding others.

Gunmen ambushed a bus carrying Syrian soldiers early Friday in the country's east, killing at least 20 and wounding others, opposition activists said. The attack was believed to be carried out by members of the Islamic State group whose sleeper cells in parts of Syria still carry deadly attacks despite their defeat in 2019.
File photo- Kurdish forces patrol al-Hol camp, which houses families of members of the Islamic State group in Hasakeh province, Syria, on April 19, 2023. (AP)

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Published : Aug 11, 2023, 12:30 PM IST

Updated : Aug 11, 2023, 12:47 PM IST

BEIRUT:Gunmen ambushed a bus carrying Syrian soldiers early Friday in the country's east, killing at least 20 and wounding others, opposition activists said.

The attack was believed to be carried out by members of the Islamic State group whose sleeper cells in parts of Syria still carry deadly attacks despite their defeat in 2019.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 23 Syrian soldiers were killed and 10 were wounded in the attack on a desert road near the eastern town of Mayadeen in Deir el-Zour province that borders Iraq.

Another activist collective that covers news in eastern Syria said 20 soldiers were killed and others were wounded.

There was no immediate comment from the Syrian army or government on the attack.

IS controlled large parts of Syria and Iraq where they declared a caliphate in June 2014. Over the years they lost of the land and were defeated in Iraq in 2017 and two years later in Syria.

In one of their deadliest in a year, IS sleeper cells attacked workers collecting truffles near the central town of Sukhna in February, killing at least 53 people — mostly workers but also some Syrian government security forces.

Experts who follow Jihadi groups say it is too early to say if the new spate of attacks marks a new resurgence by the extremists that ruled millions of people in Syria and Iraq with terror.

Last week, IS announced the death in Syria of its little-known leader, Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurayshi — who headed the extremist organization since November — and named his successor. He was the fourth to be killed since its founder Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in 2019 by U.S. troops in northwest Syria. (AP)

Last Updated : Aug 11, 2023, 12:47 PM IST

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