14 Wounded in Syria Minibus Blast      08/07 06:39

   

   DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) -- Syria's Health Ministry said Friday that 14 people 
were wounded, three of them critically, but that there were no fatalities in 
the explosion of a minivan taxi a day earlier in a Damascus suburb.

   The Health Ministry had said Thursday night that two people were killed in 
the blast. In a statement Friday, it said the fatalities had been incorrectly 
recorded based on three severed limbs that were pulled from the wreckage.

   After further investigation, the limbs were determined to belong to living 
patients who were undergoing surgery, the statement said.

   Officials said the explosion in Jaramana was caused by an explosive device 
planted in the minivan taxi, which was carrying passengers at the time of the 
blast.

   A little-known group calling itself Minbar Ansar al-Rasoul issued a 
statement claiming responsibility for the attack. Syrian authorities have not 
announced any arrests or the results of their investigation into the bombing.

   Jaramana, which is home to a large population of the Druze religious 
minority, has faced tensions between some members of the community and Sunni 
Muslim Syrians supportive of the country's current Islamist-led government.

   Tensions flared in April 2025, when at least 10 people were killed in 
sectarian clashes between Druze gunmen and pro-government fighters.

   The apparent bombing attack, the third in just over a month, is the latest 
of several challenges that interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa has faced since 
coming to power in December 2024 after leading an insurgency that overthrew the 
Assad dynasty and ended its half-century rule.

   In early July, two explosions wounded at least 18 people during French 
President Emmanuel Macron's landmark visit to Syria. Explosive devices were 
placed in a garbage bin and a parked car. Syrian authorities arrested suspects 
days later, who they said were part of an Islamic State cell.

   Al-Sharaa has pushed to assert full control over Syria, appeal to minority 
groups skeptical of his Islamist-led rule and win the support of Western 
governments who were concerned about his past leadership of the formerly 
al-Qaida-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group. His government has promised 
political and economic reform after decades of autocratic rule under the Assad 
family.