ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Several Syrian security forces personnel were wounded Saturday when an explosive device struck a bus carrying them northeast of Damascus, state media reported, with no group claiming responsibility for the incident security officials have described as a “terrorist attack.”
“Several internal security forces personnel were wounded Saturday when an explosive device detonated on a bus on the Maarouneh - Tal road in Rif Dimashq [province],” the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) said.
The Agency quoted a “security source” as stating that “the relevant authorities are following up on the circumstances surrounding the incident, while investigations continue to identify the perpetrators” of what he described as “a terrorist act.”
While the exact number of casualties remains unclear, Rudaw's Damascus correspondent Solin Mohammedamin, citing security sources and media reports, noted that “more than 20 security personnel were aboard the bus when it was targeted, and that the wounded were transferred to military hospitals in the capital.”
The attack comes weeks after an explosive device targeted a public minibus in the Jaramana suburb southeast of Damascus in early August, wounding 14 people, several of them critically, according to the Syrian health ministry.
The Jaramana attack raised particular alarm given the area's profile as a multi-ethnic suburb with a predominantly Christian and Druze population, located on the outskirts of the capital.
The incidents come as part of a series of security breaches that have struck Syria's capital in recent months.
At least one person was killed and 31 others injured in early July when two blasts hit central Damascus. Officials then said explosive devices were planted minutes before detonating, targeting the security cordon around French President Emmanuel Macron, who had been in Damascus on an official visit.
A week earlier, a bomb packed with shrapnel tore through a cafe in central Damascus, killing nine people and wounding 20 others, Syria's interior ministry said.
The incidents reflect the broader security challenges facing the new leadership in Damascus since the December 2024 ouster of longtime dictator Bashar al-Assad.
The deadliest since Assad's fall came in late June 2025, when a suicide bomber struck the Mar Elias Greek Orthodox Church in Damascus during Sunday services, killing at least 25 people and injuring more than 60. Syrian authorities attributed the attack to the Islamic State (ISIS).
