ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - At least one member of the Syrian security forces was killed and two others were injured in a suicide bombing in the city of Aleppo late Wednesday.
“A member of the ministry of interior was killed and two others were injured as a result of a suicide bombing carried out by an individual while he was being suspected and searched by police officers at one of the checkpoints in the Bab al-Faraj neighborhood of the city of Aleppo," said the ministry in a statement.
The ministry deployed additional forces to the city and took precautionary security measures following the blast.
No group has claimed responsibility for the explosion.
The interior ministry said in a separate statement on Thursday that the attack was carried out by ISIS.
"While one of the checkpoints in the Bab al-Faraj area of Aleppo was carrying out its duties, an officer became suspicious of a person who was later found to be affiliated with ISIS. During an attempt to verify his status, the terrorist opened fire, leading to the martyrdom of a police officer, then detonated himself, resulting in the injury of two officers as they attempted to intervene and arrest him," it said.
An explosion on Friday struck a mosque in Syria’s Homs province, killing at least eight people and wounding around 20 others. Saraya Ansar al-Sunna, a radical Sunni Islamist militant group, claimed responsibility for the attack on Friday, saying it was carried out “in cooperation with mujahideen [jihadists] from another group.”
The group had also claimed responsibility for a deadly suicide bombing attack at the Mar Elias Greek Orthodox Church in Damascus’s Christian-majority Dweila neighborhood in June. The attack left at least 22 dead and 63 injured, according to state media.
The instability comes weeks after the transitional government joined the US-led global coalition against the Islamic State. Damascus has since intensified attacks and raids against the group.