The Syrian Health Ministry has said that at least 20 people have been killed and 52 others were injured in a suicide bombing on a church on the outskirts of Damascus.
The attacker entered the Mar Elias Church in Dweila during a service and, according to the internal ministry, set fire to the explosive vest with a weapon before exploding.
It states that the jihadi group was affiliated to the Islamic State (IS). No immediate claim was made from the group itself.
Syrian Citizens Defense – whose emergency teams are widely known as white helmets – photos and videos from inside the church, which are covered in a heavy damaged altar, broken glass and a blood -soaked floor.
One person told the AFP news agency outside the Eliias that “someone entered into a weapon” and started shooting. ,[People] Before he blown himself, tried to stop him, “he said.
A worker from a nearby shop said: “We saw fire in the church and threw the remains of wooden benches to the entrance.”
According to the internal ministry, security forces have closed the area around the church and are investigating the attack.
This was the first such attack in Damascus as Bashar al-Assad was uprooted by rebel forces in December.
Interim President Ahmed Al-Shra-Sunni Islamist Group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), is a former al-Qaeda affiliated in Syria-has repeatedly promised to protect religious and ethnic minorities.
However, the country has been shaken by two waves of deadly communal violence in recent months.
