Damascus, May 8 (IANS): The Islamic State (IS) carried out an attack in a desert region in eastern Syria, killing 11 Syrian soldiers and pro-government fighters, a war monitor reported.

The IS attack took place in an area between the towns of Sukhnah and Shoula between the central province of Homs and the eastern province of Deir al-Zour, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Thursday, Xinhua news agency reported.

It said the death toll could likely rise due to the critically wounded cases.

The attack is the latest in a series of offensives carried out by the sleeper cells of the IS group in the Syrian desert.

The Britain-based watchdog group said 515 government soldiers and pro-government fighters have been killed in similar attacks since March 2019.

The group also said that over the past hours the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and its patron of the US-led coalition carried out several operations against IS in Deir al-Zour, leaving several IS members killed.