A "huge explosion" near a military intelligence office in Damascus Sunday left a number of dead and wounded, a war monitor said. The incident is being called a "terrorist act".
"The explosion took place near a security branch in the south of the city. There are some people killed and injured but we could not verify the toll immediately," the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
It is, however not clear whether it is a suicide attack or due to a planted bomb. A shooting is said to have followed the explosion.
Syrian state television earlier reported that a blast had been heard around the southern highway in Damascus. "First reports suggest a terrorist act," the broadcaster said.
More details about the incident were not available. More than 360,000 people have died and millions displaced in war-torn Syria ever since a brutal crackdown on anti-government protests in 2011. With key military backing from Russia, President Bashar al-Assad's forces have retaken large parts of Syria from rebels and jihadists, and now control almost two-thirds of the country.
The Syrian regime in May reclaimed a final scrap of territory held by the Islamic State group in southern Damascus, cementing total control over the capital for the first time in six years.
