Suicide Bombing at Syrian Church Kills 22, Injures 63

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A suicide bombing at a church in Damascus, Syria, has left at least 22 people dead and 63 injured, according to government media reports cited by ABC News on Sunday. The attack occurred during a packed Sunday service at the Mar Elias Church in the Dweila neighborhood. The assailant is believed to be a member of ISIS.

Security sources said that two individuals were involved in the attack, including the person who detonated the bomb. This is the first suicide bombing in Damascus since Bashar al-Assad was overthrown by Islamist-led rebels in December.

The Syrian interior ministry stated that the suicide bomber entered the church and opened fire before detonating his explosive vest. Eyewitnesses described a scene of panic and fear as the blast ripped through the church, which was filled with worshippers, including children and the elderly.

After the attack, the building was strewn with fragments of wooden fixtures and benches, fallen religious icons, and pools of blood on the floor. Families are still desperately searching for missing loved ones, with some local media reporting that children are among the deceased.

Lawrence Maamari, who was inside the church, recounted that a man entered and began shooting, with people attempting "to stop him before he blew himself up."

Ziad Helou, who was in a nearby shop, heard gunfire followed by an explosion and saw shards of glass flying. "We saw fire in the church and the remains of wooden benches thrown all the way to the entrance," he said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed this as the first suicide attack inside a church in Syria since the war began in 2011.

While ISIS has been behind several thwarted attempts to attack churches in Syria since Assad's downfall, security sources noted this is their first successful attack.

Since the new government, which was previously linked to Al Qaeda, took power, the international community has urged Syria to protect its minorities and ensure their participation in the transition, especially following recent sectarian violence.

Syrian Interior Minister Anas Khattab announced that a special team has launched an investigation. "These terrorist acts will not stop the efforts of the Syrian state in achieving civil peace," he stated.

Earlier this month, Khattab mentioned that authorities had successfully thwarted ISIS attempts to carry out attacks against Christian and Shia communities.

The Syrian Christian community has shrunk from approximately 1 million before the war to less than 300,000, largely due to displacement and emigration.

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