Monitoring Desk
DAMASCUS: At least nine Syrian citizens were killed on Monday when a landmine exploded, state media said, in the latest tragic incident to have hit truffle hunters in the war-torn country.
“Nine civilians were killed, and two others sustained injuries… in the eastern countryside of Al-Salamiyah” in Hama province when a landmine planted by Islamic State group militants exploded under their car, the state SANA news agency reported.
The blast victims were hunting for truffles
Syria’s Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said the victims were hunting in the desert for truffles to sell these at exorbitant prices.
On February 18, at least 68 persons picking truffles in a desert of Homs province were killed in an alleged IS attack, said the Observatory, which has a large network of sources inside Syria.
The Observatory said IS was taking advantage of the annual harvest season of the desert fungus to carry out attacks in remote locations.
In recent years, Truffle digging has seen several people, including children and women, lose their lives in the central, northeastern regions, and eastern regions of the country.
According to the Observatory, the explosives left in fields, along roads, or buildings by all sides in Syria’s 12-year conflict have killed hundreds of civilians and injured thousands more.
Across Syria, over 10 million people live in areas contaminated by explosives, the United Nations (UN) has said.
Syria’s war has claimed the lives of nearly half a million people’s lives and displaced millions since the war erupted in March 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-regime protests.
