Jaramana minibus bomb kills two, injures 13 in Damascus suburb

State-run media cited the health ministry to confirm that an explosive device concealed inside a passenger minibus detonated on Thursday in Jaramana, a suburb of the Syrian capital that is home to sizable Druze and Christian communities. The blast left at least two people dead and 13 injured, while a separate Reuters dispatch reported 14 wounded.

AFP photographs released from the scene showed the white minibus with its roof ripped away, the internal frame shattered, and fragments strewn across the narrow street that is lined with shops and street-vendor stalls.

Media additions

State television, Al-Ikhbariya, quoted an official source saying that preliminary information indicated the explosion in the town of Jaramana was caused by a bomb placed inside the vehicle. No group claimed responsibility, and the Syrian interior ministry and security authorities had not issued an official statement at the time of reporting.

Samer Abbas was inside his clothing store a few metres from the blast when the device went off. A piece of shrapnel struck his storefront. Abbas described the incident to Reuters, stating that it was a strong unnatural sound. He added that his son, who had been sitting outside, was the first thing that came to his mind, and that his blood dried up until he checked up on him and heard his voice.

At the nearby Mujtahid Hospital, Bassel Imad described the bombing as sadistic. Imad's cousin Safouh was driving the vehicle that exploded and lay injured. Imad noted that the targeted street in Jaramana is somewhat narrow and includes shops and street vendors.

Najib al-Naasan, director of the Health Ministry's Referral, Ambulance and Emergency Directorate, told reporters that forensic teams were handling human remains in accordance with established procedures. He added that nearby hospitals and emergency departments had been placed on high alert and that ambulances and medical teams were mobilised to transport the injured.

SANA later confirmed that ambulances, Interior Ministry forensic teams, Civil Defence personnel, and Syrian Arab Red Crescent crews continued to work at the scene while a crane lifted the damaged minibus for technical examination.

The incident arrives against a backdrop of escalating violence in Syria since the overthrow of long-standing President Bashar Al-Assad in December 2024. The newly installed Islamist leadership has been attempting to consolidate power, yet Damascus and its surrounding municipalities have faced a series of violent incidents aimed at security forces and civilian targets.

Jaramana itself has become a flashpoint. The town experienced bouts of sectarian violence in the spring of 2025. Earlier, a dual homemade bomb attack during a visit by French President Emmanuel Macron to Damascus left one person dead and 36 wounded. Syrian law-enforcement officials later announced the capture of a cell affiliated with the Islamic State that they believed was behind those blasts.

While ISIS sleeper cells that survived the loss of their de facto capital in Raqqa continue to operate across Syria and Iraq, the Jaramana bombing adds to a pattern of attacks in the capital's environs.

A United Nations investigation released in March found more than 1,700 people, most of them civilian members of the Druze religious sect and some members of the Bedouin community, were killed in the southern Sweida province in July 2025. The report said Syrian government forces, tribal fighters, and Druze armed groups may have committed war crimes, noting that factions within Syria's Druze community have clashed with the country's new Islamist leadership.

Al-Ikhbariya TV noted that the blast occurred in the multi-ethnic city of Jaramana shortly after local sheikhs and community leaders issued a statement reaffirming Syria's unity and rejecting calls that could undermine civil peace.

As authorities continue technical examinations of the vehicle and forensic work at the site, no official statements or claims of responsibility have been issued by militant groups.