Suspected Islamic State fighters killed at least 26 people in Syria on Sunday, a war monitor said, the latest in a spate of attacks targeting people foraging for desert truffles. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said “civilians and at least 10 pro-regime fighters” were among “the 26 people killed in an attack by Islamic State fighters while they were collecting truffles in the desert east of Hama”. Suspected IS jihadists also killed four shepherds in the eastern Syrian region of Deir ez-Zor, said the observatory, which relies on a wide network of sources on the ground. The militants, who carried automatic rifles and rode motorbikes, also stole the sheep before fleeing. Syria’s desert truffles fetch high prices in a country that has suffered 12 years of war and a deepening economic crisis. Hundreds of impoverished people search for truffles in the vast Syrian desert, a known hideout for jihadists that is also littered with landmines, between February and April each year. More than 200 people, most of them civilians, have been killed in IS attacks targeting truffle hunters or by landmines, according to the observatory. IS lost its last scraps of territory in Syria in March 2019 after a military campaign backed by a US-led coalition, but fighters continue to hide in the desert and launch deadly attacks. Desert truffles can sell for as much as $25 (£20) a kilo depending on their size and grade in a country where the average monthly wage is about $18.