On 20 October 2021, two improvised explosive devices attached to a Syrian Army bus exploded as the vehicle passed under Jisr al-Rais Bridge in Damascus, Syria, during morning rush hour, killing 14 people.[1][2] A third device was defused by an army engineering unit.[2]
It is the deadliest bombing in Syria's capital city since the March 2017 Damascus bombings, in which dozens of people were killed.[1]
Attack[]
An army bus carrying troops was blown up near a bridge in the centre of Damascus after two bombs were attached to the bus prior to departure, with a third defused by Army engineers.[3]
About an hour after the explosion, Ariha in Idlib Governorate in the northwest of the country was shelled. The territory is controlled by rebels who are fighting against the government.[3][4]
Aftermath[]
The group "Qasioun Brigades" released a statement claiming responsibility for the attack. They said that such attacks will continue in response to "the massacres carried out by the regime on a daily basis against civilians in the liberated north."[5]