BEIRUT (Reuters/AFP) – A bomb blast at a cafe in central Damascus on Thursday killed nine people and wounded 20 others, Syria's interior ministry said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
Syrian state television said an explosive device had been planted at the cafe, near the Palace of Justice in the centre of the capital.
The interior ministry said preliminary investigations showed the blast was caused by a crudely made explosive device weighing about one kilogram and packed with metal shrapnel, causing severe injuries and extensive damage at the site.
Videos that circulated on social media showed wounded people and blood on the floors of a cafe, purportedly the site of the blast. Reuters could not immediately verify the footage.
The attack presents another security challenge to the Syrian government of President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who took control after overthrowing former President Bashar al-Assad in late 2024. Assad's ouster effectively ended more than 14 years of civil war.
Damascus has witnessed a handful of security incidents since then, including a car bomb that killed one Syrian soldier and wounded at least 18 people outside the defence ministry in May.
Although no group claimed responsibility for Thursday's blast, Islamic State has sought to exploit the security vacuum created by Assad's ouster by reactivating sleeper cells, recruiting fighters and moving weapons as the new government extends its authority across the country, security officials had said.
The militant group announced earlier this year what it described as a new phase of operations against Sharaa's government.
The group is far weaker than when it controlled large parts of Syria and Iraq before the collapse of its self-declared caliphate in 2019. It remains capable of carrying out deadly insurgency-style attacks and is viewed by Syrian, Iraqi and Western officials as one of the biggest threats to Syria's transition.
Sharaa's other opponents include Assad-era officers and soldiers. In 2025, Syria was rocked by fighting between the new government forces and insurgents from Syria's Alawite minority, and separately between government forces and Druze gunmen.
AFP adds: The bombing – the deadliest since a suicide attack on a church last year – was not immediately claimed.
An AFP correspondent saw ambulances weaving through traffic with their sirens blaring as they headed to the site, and security forces cordoned off the area of the blast.
"The explosion that occurred in a cafe near the Palace of Justice in Damascus resulted from an explosive device planted in the location," state television said.
Nour Khayyat, 40, who owns a shop selling batteries for solar panels near the site, told AFP that "at about 3:00 pm (1200 GMT), I heard a powerful blast and the storefront shook".
"People rushed to the cafe and called ambulances," he added.
Mohammed al-Dahabi, the owner of a glasses shop next to the targeted cafe, was trembling as he described the explosion, telling AFP: "I felt strong pressure, and the whole place shook".
"I ran to the place and saw people lying on the floor with blood pooled around them everywhere," he added, saying the scenes recalled the bombings Damascus experienced during Syria's nearly 14-year civil war.
'MALICIOUS PARTIES'
Arriving at the scene, Damascus governor Maher Eldibi said an investigation had been launched.
"Those responsible for this bloodshed will be punished," he said.
"Each time the country sees a period of stability, malicious parties try to destabilise it."
Since the toppling of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December of 2024, Syria's new authorities led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa have sought to exercise full control, restore security and reunify the country.
Damascus has been the site of multiple attacks and incidents since the new authorities took over.
The deadliest came in June 2025, when an attack on a Damascus church killed 25 people.
The suicide attack was later claimed by a Sunni Islamist group, while the authorities blamed it on the Islamic State group.
More recently, there have been other incidents, including the killing in May of a soldier in a car bombing in Damascus's Old City.