DAMASCUS, Oct 16, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - A blast targeting a bus in Syria's eastern 
province of Deir Ezzor on Thursday killed at least five defence ministry 
personnel, an official from the ministry told AFP.

"An explosive device detonated as a bus carrying oil facility guards 
affiliated with the defence ministry passed by, killing five of them and 
wounding 13 others, including civilian bystanders," the official said, 
requesting anonymity.

State television said a blast hit a bus on the road between the cities of 
Deir Ezzor and Mayadeen, some 50 kilometres (30 miles) away.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Britain-
based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the perpetrators were "likely 
affiliated with an Islamic State (IS) group cell".

IS jihadists, once in control of large swathes of Iraq and Syria, were 
territorially defeated in Syria in 2019 in a battle spearheaded by the US-
backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) with support from an 
international coalition.

The jihadists still maintain a presence, particularly in Syria's vast desert, 
launching attacks mostly on Kurdish-controlled areas in the country's 
northeast.

During Syria's civil war, which erupted in 2011, IS carried out similar 
attacks on buses targeting the forces of former ruler Bashar al-Assad.

Since the new Islamist-led authorities took power after Assad's December 
ouster, jihadist attacks on government-controlled areas have been scarce.

In May, IS claimed its first attack on the new forces, with the Observatory 
saying one member of Syrian army personnel was killed and three others 
wounded.

The following month, authorities accused IS of being behind a deadly suicide 
attack in a Damascus church that killed 25 people, though the group never 
claimed responsibility.