The Islamic State group claimed responsibility on Saturday, February 22, for killing three members of the Syrian Ministry of Defense in northeastern Syria, two days after it said it carried out another attack in Deir Ezzor province.

In a statement published through its affiliated Dabiq news agency, the group said it shot and killed a Syrian army member in the city of al-Mayadin in Deir Ezzor province using a pistol. It also attacked two others with machine guns in the village of al-Wasata in the northern countryside of Raqqa province, killing them.

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For its part, the Syrian Ministry of Defense’s Media and Communication Department said that “a member of the Ministry of Defense was targeted by unknown assailants in the village of al-Wasata in the northern Raqqa countryside, resulting in his immediate death along with a civilian,” without explicitly identifying the perpetrating party.