Five killed in Syria blast

At least five people were killed and nine others wounded Wednesday when armed militant groups attacked a passenger bus in southern Syria, media reported.

According to police sources, the bus was headed to the town of Hiran in the western countryside of the southern province of Swaida when two explosive devices went off, Xinhua reported the state-run SANA news agency.

Last month, five people were injured in a similar attack in the town of Dama in Swaida.

Meanwhile, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said intense fighting was still going around on the suburbs of Jobar in the eastern countryside of capital Damascus.

It said that the area was subject to 12 airstrikes Wednesday, adding that the Syrian troops were shelling the rebel-held area with surface-to-surface missiles.

The Syrian troops started a ground incursion into Jobar last Thursday.

Jobar, which lies two km northeast of the walls of the old city of Damascus, has posed a threat to the government-controlled eastern districts of the capital throughout the country's long-running conflict, as rebels positioned in the suburb have repeatedly attempted to breach the capital.