At least 18 Syrian truffle hunters killed in suspected IS attack

At least 18 people searching for truffles in the Syrian desert have been killed by suspected Islamic State (IS) group gunmen, a monitoring group says.

More than 50 others are missing after the attack in the eastern province of Deir al-Zour, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Pro-Syrian government Al-Mayadeen TV says at least 47 people were killed.

And the Kurdish North Press news agency reports that about 40 were killed, including women and children.

Last year, dozens of Syrian truffle hunters were killed in several gun attacks. IS was widely blamed, but the group did not claim it was behind them.

Desert truffles - edible fungi which grow in arid areas - are a prized delicacy that can sell for up to $35 (£27) per kg in the war-torn country, where the minimum monthly wage is only around $14 (£11) and an estimated 90% of the population lives below the poverty line.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights cited its sources as confirming that 18 people, including four members of a pro-government paramilitary National Defence Forces (NDF), were killed in Wednesday's attack.

Gunmen believed to be from IS opened fire at the group of truffle hunters in Kobajib, a desert area in the south of Deir al-Zour province, it said.

That triggered clashes between the gunmen and NDF fighters - who supervise truffle hunting in the area - during which 12 vehicles were burnt, it added.

North Press, which operates in Kurdish-controlled north-eastern Syria, cited relatives of several truffle hunters and medical sources as saying that 40 civilians were killed along with four NDF fighters.

The report also said the attack was believed to have been carried out by IS, though there was no immediate claim from the group.

IS once held 88,000 sq km (34,000 sq miles) of territory stretching from western Syria to eastern Iraq and imposed its brutal rule on almost eight million people.

Despite the group's military defeat in Syria in 2019, the UN has warned that the threat posed by IS and its affiliates remains high.

A report in January estimated that IS had between 3,000 and 5,000 fighters in Iraq and Syria, and noted that attacks had intensified in Syria since November.

Syria's central Badia desert served as a "logistics and operations hub", with between 500 and 600 fighters forming a triangle linking the provinces of Deir al-Zour in the east, Suweida in the south, and Homs in the west, it said.