DAMASCUS, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- Five pro-government fighters were killed on Thursday by an Islamic State (IS) attack in the eastern desert region of Syria, a war monitor reported.
The IS militants detonated a roadside bomb targeting a vehicle transporting fighters of the National Defense Forces (NDF), a paramilitary unit fighting alongside the Syrian army, on the Ahtria-Raqqa road in the eastern countryside of the central province of Hama, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The explosion, which killed three NDF members, was followed by clashes between IS militants and NDF fighters, resulting in the killing of two more NDF fighters, it added, without reporting casualties among the assailants.
There was no immediate comment from the Syrian government on the latest IS attack.
A total of 157 IS militants and 247 government and pro-government fighters have been killed in the clashes in Syria's eastern desert region since the beginning of the year, according to the Britain-based watchdog.
Following its defeat in major Syrian areas in 2018, the IS militants fled to the desert region and started attacks on roads linking the provinces of Hama and Homs with the eastern province of Deir al-Zour. ■
