9 Killed, Most Soldiers, in Ambush Attack on Bus in Syria

At least nine people, including seven Syrian government soldiers and a 13-year-old girl, were killed in an attack on a bus in Syria.

The ambush attack on Sunday on a bus traveling on the highway between the northern city of Raqqa and the Syrian capital Damascus was carried out by the Islamic State, according to the London-based war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). At least 16 people were seriously injured, meaning that the death toll could rise.  No organization has officially claimed responsibility for the attack.  The Syrian state-controlled SANA news agency reported that the nine dead were all “innocent civilians.”

It is the second attack in less than a week, according to SOHR. On Dec. 30, an ambush said to be by members of the Islamic State attacked three buses carrying Syrian soldiers, killing 39.