BEIRUT – Suspected members of the Islamic State group attacked three posts of Syrian government forces and pro-government gunmen on Friday morning, killing at least 13 people, an opposition war monitor and pro-government media reported.
The attack injured others who were taken to hospitals in the central province of Homs, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. It said 15 people were killed in attacks on three gas stations near the central city of Sukhna and blamed IS.
The conflicting casualty counts could not immediately be reconciled.
Athr Press and Sham FM, both pro-government media outlets, said that 13 pro-government soldiers and gunmen were killed in the attacks and that IS gunmen were behind them. They did not provide further details.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but the area was once a stronghold of the extremist group that was officially defeated in Syria in March 2019.
However, IS sleeper cells have been blamed for deadly attacks against Syrian government forces and members of the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in eastern Syria.
In 2014, IS declared a caliphate in large parts of Syria and Iraq, where it attracted thousands of supporters from around the world to join them.
An IS attack on pro-government Palestinian fighters near Sukhna killed 22 people last month.
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