Syria reports blast at Deir Az Zor military site kills 11

Incident overview

The Syrian Ministry of Defence announced that an explosion at a weapons cache within a Syrian Arab Army position in the town of Ayyash, western Deir Az Zor, resulted in the deaths of eleven soldiers and injured nine others. State news agency SANA reported the blast occurred while soldiers were transporting heavy ammunition, according to a statement from the provincial government.

Context and previous incidents

The blast follows a September 9 explosion at a temporary weapons depot in Sarmada, Idlib province, which the defence ministry said killed fourteen soldiers and wounded more than ten people. Earlier in the month, a vehicle carrying ammunition exploded in Binnish, also in Idlib, killing five people. Syrian officials have noted that clearing large stockpiles of munitions left from the civil war has led to a series of accidental detonations.

Response and investigation

The Syrian military held a funeral procession for the deceased soldiers on Saturday, with bodies wrapped in national flags carried to the National Hospital in Deir Az Zor city. The cause of the Ayyash explosion remains undetermined, and authorities have launched an investigation. Emergency management officials have previously acknowledged difficulties in securing sites where civilians are involved in collecting abandoned munitions.

Source: Al Jazeera