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Nine people killed in attack on bus in Syria - newspaper

Militants attacked a passenger vehicle following the Salamiyah-Raqqa highway

© REUTERS/Abdalrhman Ismail, archive

MOSCOW, January 4. /TASS/. At least nine people were killed Sunday in a terrorist attack on a bus in the Syrian province of Hama, Al Watan newspaper reported with reference to a military source. According to the source, militants attacked a passenger vehicle following the Salamiyah-Raqqa highway.

According to Al-Masdar news website, an armed sortie was launched by a gang operating in the area, which is part of the extremist group "Islamic State" (IS, banned in Russia). Syrian soldiers who arrived at the scene chase the militants.

On December 30, another IS gang attacked a passenger bus on the Palmyra-Deir ez-Zor highway, resulting in 25 victims, 13 injured. Servicemen treated the wounded and took them to a hospital in Deir ez-Zor.

Terrorists have noticeably intensified their attacks since the beginning of December in the triangle at the junction of the provinces of Aleppo, Hama, and Raqqa. The Syrian Armed Forces command deployed reinforcements there, which helped government forces retain control of the strategic highway to Aleppo. During the fighting, 39 militants were killed.

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