27 killed in Syria blasts, shelling
Two bombs planted on army bus kill 14 in central Damascus
Arare bombing of an army bus in Damascus and shelling shortly after of a town in rebel-held Syria killed at least 27 people yesterday, in the deadliest flare-up in months.
Two bombs planted on an army bus in central Damascus were detonated early yesterday, killing 14 in the worst such attack in the capital in four years, SANA reported.
There was no immediate claim for the bombing, but government shelling shortly after killed 13 people in Idlib province, parts of which are controlled by groups that have claimed such attacks in the past.
“A terrorist bombing using two explosive devices targeted a passing bus” at a key bridge in Damascus, SANA said, reporting that at least three people were wounded.
Images released by SANA showed first responders searching the charred carcass of the bus and what it said was a bomb squad defusing a third device in the same area.
SANA quoted a military source as saying the bombs were detonated as the bus passed near the Hafez Al Assad bridge, close to the national museum in Damascus.
Deadliest attack since 2017
The attack is the deadliest in Damascus since a bombing claimed by Daesh targeted the Justice Palace in March 2017, killing at least 30 people.
Around an hour after the’s attack, Syrian army shelling struck the rebel-held town of Ariha in Idlib province. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said rockets struck a busy area as students were heading to school.
Four children were among 13 people killed, the Britainbased war monitor said.
It was the highest civilian toll since a March 2020 truce deal brokered by Turkey and Russia effectively put fighting in Idlib on standby, it said.
Daesh’s “caliphate” that once straddled swathes of Syria and Iraq shrank to its death in eastern Syria in early 2019.
Since then, the government’s main focus has been the Idlib region, now home to many rebels. It is dominated by the jihadist group Hayat Tahrir Al Sham (HTS), which includes leaders of Al Qaida’s former Syria franchise. HTS has not claimed attacks in Damascus in years.