BEIRUT: Suspected fighters of the militant Islamic State (IS) group killed at least 31 people foraging for truffles in Syria on Sunday, a monitor said, in the latest such attack in the war-ravaged country.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported the killing of four shepherds by IS in a separate incident, and the abduction of two others.

“A total of 31 people, including 12 pro-regime fighters, were killed while collecting truffles in the desert east of (the central city) Hama,” the Observatory said, giving a new toll.

Earlier it reported the death of at least 26 people, a figure confirmed by the official Syrian news agency SANA. Syria’s desert truffles fetch high prices in a country battered by 12 years of war and a crushing economic crisis.

Authorities frequently warn against the high-risk practice. But between February and April each year, hundreds of impoverished Syrians search for truffles in the vast Syrian desert, or Badia — a known hideout for the group that is also littered with landmines.

Since February, more than 230 people — most of them civilians — have been killed in IS attacks targeting truffle hunters or by landmines left by the extremists, according to the Observatory. The victims included 15 people foraging for truffles who had their throats slit by IS last month.

In February, IS fighters on motorcycles opened fire on truffle hunters and killed at least 68 people, the war monitor said at the time. The Syrian desert is renowned for producing some of the best quality truffles in the world.

The prized fungus can sell for up to $25 per kilo depending on size and grade — in a country where the average monthly wage is around $18.

Also on Sunday, IS group carrying automatic rifles and riding motorbikes attacked a group of shepherds in the eastern region of Deir Ezzor, the Observatory said.

The fighters stole the sheep before fleeing, and also abducted two shepherds, said the war monitor which relies on a network of sources inside Syria for its reports. But the state news agency SANA said five shepherds were killed in the attack, as well as 250 sheep when the IS militant opened fire on them.

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

They have used such hideouts to ambush civilians, Kurdish-led forces, Syrian government troops and pro-Iranian fighters, while also mounting attacks in neighbouring Iraq. Syria’s war has claimed the lives of around half a million people and displaced millions since it erupted in March 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.

Remnants of explosives laid by all sides in the conflict are now claiming more lives in Syria than anywhere else in the world, says the United Nations.

Since 2015, landmines and other explosive remnants have on average killed or injured five people every day, according to UN data.

Published in Dawn, April 17th, 2023