Eight members of a pro-Iran militia were killed by unknown assailants in Syria’s al-Mayadeen city in the Deir Ezzor region.
The assailants attacked the headquarters of the “Syrian Revolutionary Guards” militia that is affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps, butchering their victims with knives.
Security and military forces in the region went on high alert in wake of the attack, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
This was the second attack of its kind in less than 48 hours in Deir Ezzor, the so-called “capital of Iranian militias in Syria.”
Earlier, three Syrian members of the Revolutionary Guards were killed by unknown gunmen in an attack on their military position on the outskirts al-Mayadeen.
Naher Media said the victims were killed by ISIS.
A man in his 50s was killed by a stray bullet fired by mourners during the funeral of the three victims, who hail from the predominantly Shiite town of Hatla.
The town is one of seven located east of the Euphrates River in Deir Ezzor where extremists have thrived.
In 2013, a massacre was committed in the area against mostly Shiite gunmen. Around 60 people were killed.