Three suicide attacks by ISIS killed 11 pro-regime fighters in the eastern Syrian city of Deir Ezzor Wednesday, AFP reports.
"Eleven soldiers and pro-regime militiamen were killed and 20 others wounded in the industrial neighborhood in eastern Deir Ezzor city," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
They were killed in "three explosions of bomb-laden cars driven by IS [ISIS] suicide bombers."
ISIS controls most of oil-rich Deir Ezzor province and about half of the city, which lies about 450 kilometers (280 miles) northeast of Damascus, near the Iraqi border.
According to the Observatory, ISIS's violent attack allowed it to advance slightly in the city, but Syrian and Russian warplanes were fiercely striking their positions.