Damascus (AFP) — A shooting and suicide bombing at a Damascus church during a packed service on Sunday killed at least 22 people, authorities said, blaming a member of the Islamic State group for the unprecedented attack.
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.
It was also the first inside a church in Syria since the country’s civil war erupted in 2011, according to a monitor.
Security remains one of the greatest challenges for Syria’s new authorities, with the international community repeatedly urging them to protect minorities.
AFP correspondents saw first responders transporting people from the Orthodox church as security forces cordoned off the area.
The church itself was strewn with wood from fittings and pews, with fallen icons and pools of blood on the floor.
“A suicide attacker affiliated with the Daesh (IS) terrorist group entered the Saint Elias church in the Dwelaa area... opened fire then blew himself up with an explosive belt,” an interior ministry statement said.
State news agency SANA, citing the ministry of health, reported a death toll of 22, with 63 injured.
Lawrence Maamari who was inside the church when the attack happened told AFP a man had entered and begun shooting. People “tried to stop him before he blew himself up,” he added.
Ziad Helou, 40, who was at a shop nearby, said he heard gunfire then an explosion, and saw glass flying.
“We saw fire in the church and the remains of wooden benches thrown all the way to the entrance,” he said.
The blast sparked panic and fear in the church, which had been full of worshippers, including children and the elderly, eyewitnesses said. Families were still searching desperately for missing loved ones.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it was the first suicide attack inside a church in Syria since war erupted in 2011. Other churches had been damaged or seen attacks in their vicinity during the conflict, but none had been so directly targeted.
Meantime, the Orthodox patriarchate in Damascus called on “the authorities to bear full responsibility for what has happened and is happening concerning the violation of the sanctity of churches, and to ensure the protection of all citizens.”
Syria’s Christian community has shrunk from around one million before the war to under 300,000 due to waves of displacement and emigration.
The United Nations special envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen expressed “outrage at this heinous crime,” calling for a full investigation.
US special envoy Tom Barrack said Washington supported Syria “as it fights against those who are seeking to create instability and fear in their country and the broader region.”
Turkey, which is close to the new authorities, expressed confidence that Syrians would stay united in “their fight against terrorist organizations that seek to sow chaos in the country.”
France’s foreign ministry restated its commitment to “a transition in Syria that allows Syrians, whatever their religion, to live in peace and security in a free, united, pluralistic, prosperous, stable and sovereign” country.