At least 23 Syrian soldiers were killed after alleged Islamic State terrorists opened fire on a military bus in the eastern Deir al-Zour province in what is being claimed as one of the deadliest attacks by the terror organisation.

According to a report by BBC, 10 other soldiers have been injured in the attack and several others are missing. It is worth mentioning that ISIS attacks in Syria are quite common and have intensified lately.

The terrorist organisation maintains hideouts in the Syrian desert and constantly initiate ambushes and hit-and-run attacks. The T2 pumping station, near which the latest attack took place, was an ISIS stronghold till 2017 when it captured by the Syrian Army.

The death toll was likely to rise, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based monitoring group. Earlier, 10 Syrian soldiers and pro-government fighters were killed in an ISIS attack in Raqa province, the SOHR said.

The suspected leader of the ISIS group in Syria, Abu Hussein al-Qurayshi, was killed by Turkish forces in April, said Turkish President Recip Tayyip Erdogan. Qurayshi is believed to have taken the reins of the group after his predecessor was killed in 2022.

The ISIS group held a large portion of territory from eastern Syria across northern Iraq, and was driven from the last piece of its territory by the Syrian military in 2019. However, the United Nations have warned that the terror group remains a persistent threat.

IS regional affiliates also pose threats in other conflict zones across the world, such as the West African region, where countries have witnessed a spade of military coups.

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