Military bus explodes in Syrian capital, killing at least 14

3 yıl önce

BEIRUT — At least 14 people were killed in Syria's capital Wednesday morning when two explosive devices struck a military bus in one of the deadliest attacks to hit Damascus in years, according to the Syrian official news agency SANA.

At 6:45 am local time, two IEDs struck the military bus as it crossed the usually-bustling President Hafez al-Assad Bridge in central Damascus. The IEDs had been previously attached to the bus, SANA reported, and a third IED that had fallen off the bus was later found and dismantled.

Footage shared by the news agency showed a charred husk of the small military bus after it had been doused with water. At least three people were wounded in the blast.

It was not immediately clear whether all the dead and wounded were military personnel.

It was the deadliest known incident in the capital since 2017, when at least 30 were killed in an Islamic State attack on the Justice Palace. The capital has enjoyed relative calm for years before and since, as war raged on in the rest of the country as President Bashar al-Assad has tried to wrest control back from different groups, including a U.S.-backed Kurdish group, various rebel formations and armed Islamist organizations.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, although most such attacks have been carried out by the Islamic State in the past.