28 soldiers killed in IS gun attack in Syria

International Desk: 28 soldiers of the Syrian government forces were killed in two separate attacks by the international Islamic militant group Islamic State (IS).

The country's human rights organization, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, reported this information on Saturday, AFP reported.

IS gunmen targeted a bus carrying soldiers in Syria's eastern province of Homs on Friday, according to reports. A total of 22 passengers of that bus were killed. All of these soldiers who were killed were members of the Quds Brigade of the Syrian Armed Forces.

The brigade's fighters are all ethnically Palestinian, and Moscow, Damascus' main ally, has regularly provided financial and military support to the Quds Brigades in recent years.

On the same day, IS gunmen attacked a military base in the eastern city of Albu Kamal and killed 6 Syrian soldiers. Neither incident was reported in Syrian state media. In 2014, ISIS emerged in Syria and Iraq.

This international Islamic militant group declared itself a separate state by occupying large territories of the two countries. However, since the Russian Air Force began operations in IS-held areas in 2015, the group's violence has been on the decline. The group has managed to hold on to only a fifth of the territory it captured in 2014.