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The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said the attack was one of the largest in terms of casualties since the collapse of the Islamic State caliphate last year.
IS fighters staged an ambush in the eastern province of Deir az Zoro, targeting soldiers from regime forces who returned home from vacation.
The state news agency SANA reported that “25 citizens” were killed and another 13 injured in a “terrorist attack” on the bus.
In 2014, the Islamic State occupied part of Syria and Iraq and announced the establishment of a “caliphate.” Later, after multiple attacks in both countries, the Islamic State jihadists were expelled from all the territories under their control, but their organization was not completely dismantled.
In Syria, the group was defeated in March last year, but “sleeping squads” continue to carry out attacks, especially in the vast desert region from the central Choms province to Deir az Zor and the border with Iraq.
“This attack was one of the most devastating since the collapse of the IS caliphate,” Sohr chief Rami Abdel Rahman said of Wednesday’s ambush.
Abdel Rahman told AFP that the bus was attacked near the town of Schula. Jihadists detonated roadside bombs and began firing at soldiers belonging to the 4th Ground Forces Division.
The SOHR report states that at least 37 soldiers were killed, including eight officers, and 12 others were injured. Some of the injured are in critical condition.
Two other buses from the same convoy managed to escape the ambush, SOHR added.
No one has yet claimed responsibility for this attack.
It is not allowed to publish, quote or reproduce the information of the BNS news agency in the media and on websites without the written consent of the UAB “BNS”.
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