A bomb attack on a bus carrying troops in the Syrian capital Damascus has killed at least 14 military personnel and wounded three others, state TV and a military official said.
The attack early on Wednesday was quickly followed by army shelling in rebel-held Idlib province, which rescue workers said killed 12 people.
Shelling by the Syrian army killed Twelve people, Seven of them civilians, Wednesday in the northwestern region of Idlib controlled by jihadist-led rebels, a war monitor reported.
Rockets struck a busy area of the town of Ariha, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, adding that at least two children were among those killed.
The shelling, which hit the war-ravaged town at a time when children were heading to school, also wounded at least 26 people, the Britain-based monitoring group said.The Damascus bombing was the deadliest in the capital in years, and a rare event since government forces captured suburbs formerly held by opposition fighters in Syria’s 10-year-long conflict.
About an hour after the bus blast, shells rained down on Ariha in Idlib in the northwest of the country, one of the last areas still held by rebels fighting against President Bashar al-Assad.
Four children and a teacher on their way to school were among those confirmed killed, the UN children’s agency UNICEF said. Rescue workers said at least 30 people were wounded.
“The numbers of children injured and killed continue to increase,” UNICEF said in a statement.
Rare Damascus attack
Syrian state TV showed footage of the charred bus in central Damascus, saying the attack occurred during rush hour when people were heading to work and school.
Two explosive devices went off as the bus was near the Hafez al-Assad bridge, it said, adding a third device was defused by an army engineering unit in what officials said was a “terrorist” blast.
A military source quoted by the state news agency SANA said the bombs had been planted on the bus itself.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.