BEIRUT: A little-known Sunni Muslim extremist group on Tuesday claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on a Damascus church over the weekend that authorities have blamed on the Daesh group.
Sunday’s attack killed 25 and wounded dozens of others, striking terror into the Syrian Arab Republic’s Christian community and other minorities.
A statement from Saraya Ansar Al-Sunna said a group operative “blew up the Saint Elias church in the Dwelaa neighborhood of Damascus,” saying it came after unspecified “provocation.”
The Islamist authorities who took power after ousting longtime ruler Bashar Assad in December had quickly blamed the attack on Daesh and announced several arrests on Monday in a security operation against Daesh-affiliated cells.
But the Saraya Ansar Al-Sunna statement on messaging app Telegram, where it counts several hundred followers, said the government’s version of events was “untrue, fabricated.”
