BBC:
At least 22 people have been killed and 63 others wounded in a suicide bomb attack at a church in Damascus, Syria’s health ministry has said.
A man opened fire with a weapon at the Greek Orthodox Church of the Prophet Elias in the Dweila neighbourhood during a service on Sunday evening before detonating an explosive vest, according to the interior ministry.
It said the attacker was affiliated with the jihadist group Islamic State (IS). There was no immediate claim from the group itself.
Photos and video from inside the church showed a heavily damaged altar, pews covered in broken glass and blood spattered across the walls.
Witness Lawrence Maamari told AFP news agency that “someone entered [the church] from outside carrying a weapon” and began shooting. People “tried to stop him before he blew himself up”, he added.
Another man who was in a nearby shop said he heard gunfire followed by an explosion that sent glass flying. “We saw fire in the church and the remains of wooden benches thrown all the way to the entrance,” Ziad said.
It was the first such attack in Damascus since Islamist-led rebel forces overthrew Bashar al-Assad in December, ending 13 years of devastating civil war
The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch said in a statement: “The treacherous hand of evil struck this evening, claiming our lives, along with the lives of our loved ones who fell today as martyrs during the evening divine liturgy.”
According to initial information, the bomb blast occurred at the entrance to the church, resulting in the deaths of people who were both inside the building and in the immediate vicinity, it added.
The patriarchate called upon Syria’s interim authorities to “assume full responsibility for what has happened and continues to happen in terms of violation against the sanctity of churches, and to ensure the protection of all citizens”.
Interior Minister Anas Khattab said specialised teams from his ministry had begun investigating the circumstances of what he called a “reprehensible crime”.
“These terrorist acts will not stop the efforts of the Syrian state in achieving civil peace,” he added.
The office of UN special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, condemned the attack and urged Syrians “to unite in rejecting terrorism, extremism, incitement and the targeting of any community”.
US special envoy Tom Barrack said: “These terrible acts of cowardice have no place in the new tapestry of integrated tolerance and inclusion that Syrians are weaving.”
