Syrian flag in the middle of the capital Damascus (symbolic image)
Photo: Marko Djurica / REUTERS
Several people were killed in a bomb attack on a Syrian army bus in Damascus.
The state news agency Sana announced on Wednesday that two explosives were detonated in the "terrorist bombing" while the bus was crossing the Raiss Bridge in the Syrian capital.
According to Syrian state television, the number of deaths is 13.
For many years there were regular bomb attacks in Damascus.
Since ruler Bashar al-Assad was able to largely expel jihadists and militias critical of the government from the Damascus region in 2018, they have become rare.
A civil war has been raging in Syria for more than ten years, in the course of which around twelve million people have been displaced.
Many areas have been destroyed.
In addition, the country is in a serious economic crisis.
Millions of people suffer from hunger and poverty.
Internationally, Syria's government is largely isolated.
The authoritarian ruling head of state Assad has been in power since 2000.
In May he was re-elected president - with 95.1 percent of the vote.
Opposition called the presidential election "farce"
The government troops and their allies control around two thirds of the civil war country.
Only in these areas could the Syrians cast their votes.
The choice met with sharp criticism.
The opposition called it illegal and called it a "farce".
The Kurds ruling north-east Syria also declined to participate.
Germany and other governments in the West criticized the presidential election as "neither free nor fair" and "fraudulent".
The last election was seven years ago.
Assad received around 89 percent of the vote.
In Germany, the number of Syrians seeking asylum in Germany has recently risen again.
40,472 initial applications were submitted by people from Syria by September - an increase of 57.1 percent compared to the previous year.
muk / AFP