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Update: IS kills 75 Syrian soldiers in eastern province

Xinhua, January 17, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Islamic State (IS) group killed as many as 75 Syrian government forces in several attacks on the country's eastern province of Deir al-Zour on Saturday, a monitor group reported.

The IS has also captured several districts inside that oil-rich province near the Turkish borders, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The UK-based watchdog group said at least 16 IS militants were killed in a separate attack against government forces' positions in the country's northern province of Aleppo on Saturday.

The Syrian army has been on a crushing offensive across the country recently, in what appeared to be an attempt to regain more ground to empower the position of the Syrian government in the upcoming negotiations between the opposition and the Syrian leadership in Geneva.

The state news agency SANA said the military forces made a fresh progress in the countryside of the coastal city of Latakia, capturing several towns from the rebel groups. Endit