25 killed in bombing at Damascus Orthodox church: ‘No justification for slaughter in a sacred space’

A suicide bombing at a Greek Orthodox church in Damascus June 22 left at least 25 people dead and more than 60 injured, according to Syrian officials. 

The attack struck the Mar Elias Church in the city’s Dweila neighborhood as worshipers were gathered for the Divine Liturgy, Vatican News reported. Authorities said the assailant, identified as a member of the Islamic State, entered the church armed with a firearm and an explosive vest. 

After opening fire on the congregation, he detonated the vest inside the church. Syrian media also reported that the attacker was carrying a grenade, which he threw into the building before the explosion. 

The attack comes amid renewed violence across Syria targeting Christian and minority communities. Earlier this year, Christian patriarchs in the region condemned what they described as a “dangerous escalation” of brutality in the coastal areas. While Sunday’s bombing marks a severe act of terror in the capital, it follows a broader pattern of instability that has persisted during Syria’s recent political transition.

Syria’s Interior Ministry linked the church attacker to the Islamic State, though no group has formally claimed responsibility.

In the wake of the attack, the Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land — representing Catholic bishops across Jerusalem, Palestine, Israel, Jordan, and Cyprus — voiced its “profound shock and deep revulsion,” Vatican News reported. 

“There is no justification — religious, moral, or rational — for the slaughter of innocents, least of all in a sacred space,” the bishops said.

They added that invoking religion to justify such violence “is a grave perversion of all that is holy.”

Syrian Information Minister Hamza Mostafa condemned the bombing as a terrorist act.

“This cowardly act goes against the civic values that [bring] us together,” Mostafa said, according to Vatican News. “We will not back down from our commitment to equal citizenship… and we also affirm the state’s pledge to exert all its efforts to combat criminal organizations and to protect society from all attacks threatening its safety.”

Greece’s Foreign Ministry denounced what it called an “abhorrent terrorist suicide bombing” and urged Syria’s transitional government to ensure the protection of Christian and other religious communities.

“We demand that the Syrian transitional authorities take immediate action to hold those involved accountable,” the statement read, “and implement measures to guarantee the safety of Christian communities and all religious groups, allowing them to live without fear.”

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