Triple Daesh suicide attack kills 11 Syrian regime fighters

Three suicide attacks by the Islamic State group killed 11 pro-regime fighters in the eastern Syrian city of Deir Ezzor Wednesday, a monitoring group said.

"Eleven soldiers and pro-regime militiamen were killed and 20 others wounded in the industrial neighbourhood in eastern Deir Ezzor city," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

They were killed in "three explosions of bomb-laden cars driven by IS suicide bombers".

IS controls most of oil-rich Deir Ezzor province and about half of the city, which lies about 450 kilometres (280 miles) northeast of Damascus, near the Iraqi border.

According to the Observatory, IS's violent attack allowed it to advance slightly in the city, but Syrian and Russian warplanes were fiercely striking their positions.

Russia has been conducting an air war in Syria since September.

Syria's official news agency SANA also confirmed the car bombings, but said government forces had been able to push IS back.

Elsewhere in Syria, the toll from deadly strikes likely conducted by Russian warplanes in Idlib province on Sunday rose to 58 people, mostly fighters.

The toll did include six Islamic court judges from the Ahrar al-Sham hardline group, which is allied with Al-Qaeda's Syrian branch.

Since it erupted in March 2011, Syria's conflict has left more than 250,000 people dead.
Source :AFP