Deadly twin suicide attack hits Damascus police station

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Two suicide bombers attacked a police station in Damascus on Monday, killing a number of civilians and policemen, the interior minister said, in the first such attack in the Syrian capital since July.

Four terrorists carried out the attack, killing more than 10 people, the pro-Damascus TV channel al-Mayadeen said. Russia’s RIA news agency reported that 15 people were killed.

Terrorists targeted the station in the al-Midan neighborhood and clashed with police officers there, Interior Minister Muhammad al-Shaar said in comments broadcast by state television from the police station.

One attacker blew himself up at the main entrance and another detonated his explosive device on the first floor, he said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. Footage broadcast by state TV showed bodies wrapped in shrouds at the scene and firefighters putting out flames.

Previous suicide attacks in Damascus have been claimed by both Islamic State and the Tahrir al-Sham jihadist alliance, which is led by the group formerly known as the Nusra Front.

Meanwhile, multiple sources reported that an air strike carried out by an unidentified warplane killed seven Hezbollah fighters in eastern Syria Monday.

The identity of the warplane was not confirmed, but the sources did not rule out the possibility that it was Russian “friendly fire.” The sources did not say when the air strike happened.

The air strike struck a Hezbollah position in eastern Homs province, where the Iranbacked Lebanese group is fighting Islamic State alongside the Syrian and Russian militaries.

Asked about a report that a US drone carried out the strike, the spokesman of the US-led Coalition said the location was outside its area of operations.

The coalition is also conducting air strikes in Syria against Islamic State in support of the Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Arab and Kurdish militias.