Anonymous
ID: 2ZA2nyZJ
6/24/2025, 2:33:43 AM No.508524061
At least 25 people have been killed and 63 others wounded in a suicide bomb attack at an Orthodox Church in Damascus, Syria's health ministry has said.
"On this day when our Antiochian Church commemorates All the Saints of Antioch, 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 at the Church of the Prophet Elias in Dweilaa, Damascus."
A man opened fire with a weapon at the Antiochian 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.
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.
"On this day when our Antiochian Church commemorates All the Saints of Antioch, 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 at the Church of the Prophet Elias in Dweilaa, Damascus."
A man opened fire with a weapon at the Antiochian 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.
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.
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