A bomb blast at a crowded cafe in central Damascus on Thursday killed ten people, the Syrian Health Ministry announced on Friday, the state-owned Syrian News Channel said.
Further, 21 people were considered injured, said the channel.
Syrian state TV said a bomb had been planted at the cafe, which is near the Palace of Justice in the center of Syria's capital. There were no other immediate details on the apparent attack and no immediate claim of responsibility.
"The Syrian Arab Republic condemns in the strongest terms the heinous terrorist bombing that targeted a café in the capital, Damascus," said the Syrian Foreign Ministry in a statement on X/Twitter early Friday morning.
"Syria affirms that this cowardly terrorist act will not deter it from continuing its efforts to protect its citizens, consolidate security and stability in the country, eliminate terrorism and its sources, and work to strengthen civil peace and preserve the security and stability of the country," the ministry added.
Attacks in Damascus since the fall of the Assad regime
Damascus has been hit by a small number of attacks since the toppling of President Bashar al-Assad in late 2024. His ouster by Ahmed al-Sharaa, now Syria's president, and his rebel forces effectively ended 14 years of civil war.
A car bomb killed one Syrian soldier and wounded at least 18 other people on May 19 outside a defense ministry building in Damascus.
In December 2024, President Assad flew out of Syria to Moscow, ending a 54-year dynasty during which the Assad family had ruled the country with an iron fist.
Hours earlier, rebel forces had entered the capital, Damascus, simultaneously seizing control of the strategic city of Homs to the north, after a lightning 12-day campaign that began with a surprise attack on Aleppo, Syria’s second-largest city.