JARAMANA, Syria — An explosion Thursday in a suburb of the Syrian capital Damascus killed at least two people and wounded several others, Syria’s Health Ministry said. Syrian state television cited an unnamed security official as saying the explosion in Jaramana was caused by an explosive device planted in a minivan taxi. Syria’s Health Ministry said two people were killed and at least 13 others were wounded. An AP journalist at the scene saw one of the bodies pulled from the wreckage. Residents and rescue workers rushed to the scene. Witnesses told the AP that there were passengers inside the vehicle that exploded, and that the blast rattled the busy commercial street. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. 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 Syrian 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. Al-Sharaa has pushed to assert full control over Syria, appeal to minorities 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. —- Associated Press journalist Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report. Abdulrahman Shaheen, The Associated Press
