Eleven Syrian soldiers have been killed and nine others injured in an explosion at a military site in Ayyash, in the western part of Deir Az Zor province, Syria’s Ministry of Defence said.
The explosion occurred on Friday at a weapons storage facility inside a Syrian Arab Army position, according to the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), which cited the Defence Ministry.
The cause of the blast has not yet been established, and authorities said an investigation is underway.
The Syrian military held a funeral procession on Saturday for the soldiers killed in the incident. Footage broadcast by state television showed mourners gathering outside the National Hospital in Deir Az Zor, where the bodies, wrapped in Syrian flags, were carried during the ceremony.
State broadcaster Al Ikhbariya reported that the soldiers were killed while transporting heavy ammunition at the military site.
The incident is the second deadly explosion at a Syrian military site in less than two weeks.
On September 9, an explosion at a temporary weapons and war-remnants depot in Sarmada, in northwestern Idlib province, killed 14 soldiers and injured more than 10 people, including civilians. The Defence Ministry said the facility was being used to collect weapons and ammunition left over from Syria’s more than decade-long civil war before their transfer under standard procedures.
Earlier, on September 1, a vehicle carrying ammunition exploded in Binnish, also in Idlib province, killing five people and injuring several others.
Explosions involving weapons and abandoned munitions have become increasingly frequent in Syria as authorities work to clear large stockpiles left behind by years of conflict.
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