Suicide bombing at Damascus church kills 20, authorities say

The Ministry of Interior in Syria said that at least 20 people were killed and 52 others were wounded in a suicide bombing in a church on the outskirts of Damascus.

The ministry said in a statement that the attacker entered the Mar Elias Church in Dofila during a service and opened the fire with a weapon before the bombing of an explosive jacket.

He added that he belonged to the Islamic State jihadist group (IS). There was no immediate claim from the same group.

The Syrian Civil Defense – which is widely known as the emergency teams as white helmets – has published pictures and videos from inside the church showing greatly damaged altar, seats covered with broken glass and a bloody floor.

One person told Agence France -Presse news agency outside Mar Elias that “someone entered a weapon” and began shooting. “[People] Try to stop him before he detonated himself. “

“We have seen fire in the church and the remains of the wooden seats that were thrown along the way to the entrance,” said a worker in a nearby store.

The security forces overlooked the area surrounding the church and investigated the attack, according to the Ministry of Interior.

This was the first such attack in Damascus since Bashar al -Assad was overthrown by the rebel forces in December.

The interim president, Ahmed Al-Sharra-who promised his Sunni Islamic group, Haya Terir Al-Sham (HTS), a previous subsidiary in Al Qaeda in Syria-has repeatedly promised to protect religious and ethnic minorities.

However, the country has shook two waves of deadly sectarian violence in recent months.