BEIRUT: Gunmen thought to be linked to the militant Islamic State group in Syria killed 18 people searching for truffles in the desert on Wednesday, a war monitor said.

More than 50 people remained missing after the attack that saw heavy clashes with pro-government forces, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

“Eighteen people were confirmed killed, including four pro-government fighters… while more than 50 are still missing, after an attack launched by gunmen likely affiliated with IS,” it said.

The militants attacked the group with machine guns, said the Britain-based monitoring group with a network of sources inside Syria. The clashes left about a dozen cars burnt, it added.

The Syrian desert is renowned for producing some of the world’s best quality truffles, which fetch high prices in a country battered by 13 years of war and a crushing economic crisis.

Every year between February and April, foragers risk their lives, defying official warnings, to collect the delicacies in the vast northern Syrian desert, or Badia — a known hideout for militants that is also littered with landmines.

Last month, a blast from a landmine left by the IS group killed 14 people foraging for desert truffles, state media said.

IS lost its last scraps of territory in Syria in March 2019, following a military campaign backed by a US-led coalition, but the remnants continue to hide in the desert and launch deadly attacks.

They have ambushed civilians as well as Kurdish-led forces, Syrian government troops and pro-Iran fighters, while also mounting attacks in neighbouring Iraq.

Syria’s war has killed more than half a million people and displaced millions more since it broke out in March 2011.

Published in Dawn, March 7th, 2024