DAMASCUS: At least 20 people were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the Mar Elias Church in the Dweila neighborhood of Syria’s capital Damascus on Sunday.
According to reports, Syria’s interior ministry blamed a member of the Islamic State group for the horrific attack on the Church.
The international community condemned the attack, the first of its kind in the Syrian capital since Islamist-led forces toppled longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December, and the first on a church there since the country’s civil war erupted in 2011.
Security remains one of the greatest challenges for Syria’s new authorities, whom the international community has repeatedly urged to protect minorities.
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The Syrian interior ministry said in a statement that “a suicide attacker affiliated with the Daesh (IS) terrorist group entered the Saint Elias church in the Dwelaa area of the capital Damascus where he opened fire then blew himself up with an explosive belt”.
