Syria’s Interior Ministry announced Monday that one of its security officers was killed after forces successfully stopped an assault by two Islamic State militants targeting a command headquarters of the country’s internal security forces in the city of Raqqa.
A ministry statement described how two suicide bombers attempted to force their way into the facility. Security personnel confronted the attackers, neutralizing one of them. The second bomber, after being surrounded, detonated an explosive vest. Three additional security officers sustained injuries in the incident.
Earlier reports from Syria’s state news agency, citing an Interior Ministry spokesperson, indicated that preliminary information suggested at least two ministry personnel had been killed in a suicide attack on a ministry camp in Raqqa — a figure that differed from the later official count.
Islamic State announced in February that it was launching a new campaign of attacks against the government of President Ahmed al-Sharaa. Since then, the group has carried out a series of strikes, including one near Raqqa that killed four Syrian security personnel.
Syria’s government under al-Sharaa joined the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State last year. Al-Sharaa himself previously fought against ISIS when he led the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front during Syria’s civil war, later cutting ties with al Qaeda in 2016.
At the height of its power roughly a decade ago during the Syrian civil war, Islamic State held control over approximately a quarter or more of Syrian territory before being pushed out by the U.S.-led coalition and other opposing forces.
