Gunmen kill seven civilians and wound at least four in Syria bus attack

Gunmen attacked a bus in Syria on Wednesday, killing at least seven people, state media said.

The unknown men attacked the bus as it crossed the Masyaf Bridge in the western countryside of Homs province, also wounding at least four people, the official Sana news agency reported. An investigation has been launched to “identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice”.

The victims were all civilians and employees of a company whose vehicle was taking them home after they had finished work, authorities said.

First responders transported the injured to hospitals around the city of Homs as security forces began investigating the scene of the attack, where bloodstains and broken glass were visible inside the bus.

“We view this cowardly attack as an attempt to undermine the security of Homs and destabilise the security we have worked to consolidate through various measures across the governorate,” Homs Internal Security Forces Commander Brig Gen Bassem Mohammad Shaaban told Sana.

“This crime will not go unpunished,” he said.

Since the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, Syrian authorities have struggled to maintain security after more than 13 years of civil war.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitor, said “all the victims are Alawites”, and said the attack came amid broader worries among Alawites and other Syrian minorities despite assurances from Islamist authorities.

The motive was not immediately clear and no group has claimed responsibility yet. Syrian authorities did not name any individuals or groups as suspects.

The attack follows an explosion that a state electricity company said had occurred earlier on Wednesday on a gas pipeline at the Tishreen plant, halting gas supplies needed to operate the plants.

Two people were injured in the explosion, the state-run Ekhbariya TV station reported.

The company said the shutdown of the three plants would temporarily reduce electricity generation and increase the number of power-rationing hours due to the decline in available generating capacity.

The Syrian Civil Defence said the fire that erupted had been brought under control and the site had entered the cooling-down phase.

The government of Syrian President Ahmed Al Sharaa has foiled numerous planned attacks and disrupted activity by armed cells, but there have still been deadly shootings and explosions in the capital, Damascus, and elsewhere.