DAMASCUS, Syria – An attack on a bus in southern Syria, near the country’s border with Jordan, killed at least 16 people on Monday, Syrian state media said.
“Sixteen employees of the joint Syria-Jordan duty-free zone were injured, after terrorists planted an explosive device near the bus they were on,” state news agency SANA said.
The attack took place “near the Saida bridge on the Damascus-Amman highway,” in an area in Syria’s Daraa province, SANA said.
Daraa was the cradle of Syria’s 2011 uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, but returned to Damascus’ control in 2018 under a Russian-backed ceasefire deal.
The province has been wracked by violence for years, however.
The Islamic State group, whose third leader was killed in Daraa in October, sometimes claims responsibility for attacks in the region.
Illustrative: A photo taken from the Israeli Golan Heights shows plumes of smoke rising during airstrikes in support of a Syrian government-led offensive in the southwestern province of Daraa, July 23, 2018. (JALAA MAREY/AFP)
Monday’s attack comes one day after a rare car bombing hit the capital Damascus, with no deaths reported and no side claiming responsibility.
On January 30, a bomb attack on a Syrian police bus carrying 15 officers in Daraa province, which is largely controlled by Syrian government forces and former rebels who have gained an understanding of the regime.
Syria’s war began in 2011 with the brutal suppression of peaceful anti-government protests, and has escalated into a deadly armed conflict that has drawn in foreign powers and global jihadists.
More than half a million people were killed and about half of Syria’s pre-war population was forced from their homes.
