Christians in the Syrian capital grappled Monday with grief and fear after a suicide bomber killed at least 25 worshippers during Sunday Mass at Mar Elias Church, the first such attack in Damascus since Islamist rebels ousted President Bashar al-Assad last December.
The Health Ministry said more than 60 people were wounded when the assailant, identified by authorities as an Islamic State fighter, opened fire inside the crowded Dweila-district church before detonating an explosives vest.
Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Khaled al-Hassan told state news agency SANA that security forces raided suspected Islamic State hideouts in Damascus and its outskirts overnight, killing two militants — including the man accused of smuggling the bomber into the church — and arresting six others, among them the cell’s alleged leader.
Funeral notices were taped to the church door Monday as armed police ringed the building and other churches across the capital. “We hold no power, we sought no offices,” said Bassim Khoury, a lifelong city resident. “All we wanted was for Syria to live in peace. Why target a peaceful people?”
Sunday’s bombing deepened minority concerns that the new Islamist-led government cannot fully control hard-line factions despite pledges by interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former al-Qaida figure, to protect all sects. Alawites — Assad’s own community — suffered massacres on the coast in March, and Damascus has seen a string of armed raids on nightclubs in recent weeks.
Christian residents said some neighborhood mosques have pressured them to convert and abandon alcohol. “A 13-year-old with a rifle can stop you and claim he’s security,” said Dweila shopkeeper Nibras Youssef. “No one knows who is really in charge.”
Sharaa condemned the blast as “a criminal act that scarred all Syrians” and joined church leaders in attending candlelit vigils held nationwide Monday evening.