Syria says bomb on minibus near Damascus wounded 14, deaths reported mistakenly

AFP

A bomb planted in a minibus wounded 14 people on the outskirts of Syria's capital Damascus on Thursday night, with some of the injuries so severe that they were taken for fatalities, an official said on Friday.

Officials had said on Thursday that two people were killed in the blast. Health ministry head of media, Riad al-Sayed Hasan, told Reuters that assessment was based on the discovery of body parts at the scene which turned out to be those of some of the people severely wounded.

The blast occurred in the predominantly Druze area of Jaramana, outside Damascus. A security source told the state-run Ekhbariya TV that the blast was caused by an explosive device planted on the vehicle, citing preliminary information.

Footage from the scene showed the blown-up husk of a white minibus being dragged away from the site of the blast.

Authorities have not blamed anyone for the attack, which took place in an area where there have been clashes between the Druze and rebels backing the authorities that took over after the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad in 2024.

MINIBUS DRIVER IS AMONG THE WOUNDED

Over at the Mujtahid Hospital in Damascus, Bassel Imad said the bombing was "sadistic". His cousin Safouh was driving the vehicle that exploded and lay injured.

The targeted street in Jaramana is narrow and includes shops and street vendors, Imad said, as people clamored around him.

"What happened was very wicked," he added.

A UN investigation in March found more than 1,700 people, most of them civilian members of Druze and some members of the Bedouin community, were killed in the southern Sweida province south of Damascus in July 2025.

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