A suicide bomber in Syria on Sunday opened fire before detonating an explosive vest inside a Greek Orthodox church filled with people praying, killing at least 22 and wounding 63 others, local media reported.
The attack took place inside the Mar Elias Church in Dweil’a, on the outskirts of Damascus, the Syrian capital.
The church bombing was the first of its sort in Syria in years, and it comes amid Damascus’s efforts to gain support from minorities under its de facto Islamist government.
SANA, the Syrian state media outlet, shared a picture of the church’s pews covered in blood and debris.
Although no group immediately claimed responsibility on Sunday, the Syrian Interior Ministry said their preliminary investigation points to the extremist Islamic State group.
The ministry said one gunman entered the church, fired at the people there before detonating himself with an explosive vest, echoing some witness testimonies.
“The security of places of worship is a red line,” he said, adding that IS and remaining members of the ousted Assad government are trying to destabilise Syria.
Syrian Information Minister Hamza Mostafa condemned the attack, calling it a terrorist attack.
“This cowardly act goes against the civic values that bring us together,” he said on X. “We will not back down from our commitment to equal citizenship … and we also affirm the state’s pledge to exert all its efforts to combat criminal organizations and to protect society from all attacks threatening its safety.”
First responders and security personnel hurried to the church. One woman collapsed to her knees and started crying while terrified survivors cried out.
Witnesses said the gunman, with his face covered, entered and fired at the people. When a crowd charged at him to remove him from the church, he detonated his explosives at the entrance.
Some local media reported that children were among the casualties.
Meanwhile, Syria’s Social Affairs and Labour Minister Hind Kabawat, the country’s Christian and female minister, said she met with the clergy at the church in the evening to express her condolences.
Some 350 people were praying at the church, according to Father Fadi Ghattas, who said he saw at least 20 people killed with his own eyes. “People were praying safely under the eyes of God,” he said.
However, one church priest claimed there was a second gunman who shot at the church door before the other person detonated himself.
Security forces and first responders rushed to the church. Panicked survivors wailed as one lady fell to her knees and burst into tears. A photo circulated by Syrian state media SANA showed the church’s pews covered in debris and blood.
As President Ahmad al-Sharaa struggles to exert authority across the country, there have been concerns about the presence of sleeper cells of extremist groups in the war-torn country.