Syria: 15 soldiers dead in attack on military bus

Fifteen soldiers died Sunday in a Daesh group attack on an army bus in the central Syrian desert, a war monitor said.

State news agency SANA had reported 13 dead “including officers” and 18 wounded.

Daesh cells “attacked a military bus” in the Palmyra desert, “killing 15 soldiers and wounding 18 others”, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The death toll could rise as most of the soldiers were “seriously wounded”, said the Observatory, which relies on a network of sources across the country.

Daesh did not immediately claim responsibility for the attack.

The Observatory said 61 pro-regime soldiers and Iran-affiliated militiamen had been killed in Daesh attacks in the desert of Syria since the start of the year.

Despite the fall of Daesh's “caliphate” in 2019, the group continues to launch deadly attacks from hideouts in the Syrian desert, which extends from the outskirts of the capital Damascus to the Iraqi border.