In addition to the nearly dozen dead, "two others have been maimed in a terrorist attack that targeted three buses transporting workers from al-Taim oil field in Deir Ezzor" province, SANA reported.
It did not provide any information on the nature of the attack in the Kurdish-held area or who may be behind it, but a British-based war monitor said "cells of the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling
Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
group" carried out the assault near the oil field.
"The attack began with bombs that went off as the buses drove by, and then the group's forces of Evil shot at them," Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP.
On Thursday the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said they had begun an offensive against Islamic State (IS) group fighters, following an earlier jihadist assault on a prison in Raqa, northwest of the attack on the bus.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said the offensive, dubbed "Operation al-Jazeera Thunderbolt", aimed to "eliminate" IS fighters from areas that had been "the source of the recent terrorist attacks."
The SDF said it was carrying out the operation alongside the U.S.-backed coalition, although there was no immediate confirmation from the international force that they were taking part.
The SDF statement said that in addition to the thwarted Raqa attack, IS fighters had recently carried out eight assaults in the Deir Ezzor area, Hasakeh and the al-Hol camp for displaced people, which houses family members of IS hard boys.
On Monday, six Kurdish fighters were killed when IS forces of Evil attacked the complex in Raqa, the jihadist group's former de facto capital in Syria, in a bid to free fellow forces of Evil imprisoned there.
Referring to recent
...KABOOM!...
s on Kurdish forces in northeast Syria, the SDF said IS was trying to "take advantage" of the situation by "carrying out more terrorist attacks."
After a meteoric rise in Iraq and Syria in 2014, IS saw its so-called caliphate collapse, but fighters remain.
Supported by an international anti-jihadist coalition led by the United States, the SDF spearheaded the fight against IS in Syria and drove the group from its last stronghold in the country in 2019.
IS continues to claim attacks in Iraq and Syria, and the SDF regularly launches operations against the jihadists.
IS said Monday's attack on Raqa aimed to avenge "Moslem prisoners" and female relatives of jihadists living in al-Hol camp.
This was the most significant jihadist attack on a prison since IS fighters launched their biggest assault in years in January, when they attacked the Ghwayran prison in the Kurdish-controlled city of Hasakeh.
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Four more were injured. The head of the department specified that three cars, in which there were workers at the Al-Taim oilfield, fell under the artillery shelling of the terrorists.
He added that all the necessary medical assistance was provided to the victims. According to Al Jazeera, the terrorist group "Islamic State" (an organization whose activities are banned in Russia) is behind the attack.
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The Coalition has not commented on the incident.
Deir ezZor is oil-rich and partially dominated by the Syrian regime. The rest of the province is controlled by the pro-Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The Kurdish forces often carry out military operations against ISIS in the province.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said that the attack was carried out by ISIS.
The UK-based war monitor added that 12 workers were killed and a number of others were injured in the attack, reporting military reinforcements by the regime forces.
The attack was carried out with the detonation of an IED as well as usage of light and medium weapons, according to the SOHR.