Four killed, ten injured in cafe explosion near Damascus courthouse

DAMASCUS, Syria — Four people were killed and ten others injured when an explosion ripped through a cafe near the Palace of Justice in the Syrian capital on Monday, according to Ahmed al-Bakur, director of the emergency department at Syria's Ministry of Health. Speaking to the state-run SANA news agency, Bakur said 14 people were transported from the site on Nasir Street to al-Mujtahid Hospital, where four were pronounced dead and ten were being treated for injuries. Another wounded person was taken to the Syrian Red Crescent Hospital. Health and firefighting teams were dispatched to the scene, while traffic police cleared Nasir Street, across from the main entrance of the Hamidiyah market, to allow vehicles through. Syrian news platforms reported initial findings that the blast was caused by the detonation of a gas cylinder inside the cafe. North Press, citing witnesses, said the explosion may have been triggered by a lithium battery. No further details on the cause of the blast were immediately available.