DAMASCUS, 3 June 2006 — Clashes between Syrian security forces and militants yesterday in an area of Damascus filled with government buildings left five dead and four wounded, officials said.
Security forces killed four militants, wounded two and arrested four, Fayez Sayegh, director general of Syria’s state-run radio and television said. Four militants were arrested and all those involved were Syrian, he added in a telephone conversation with The Associated Press.
The Interior Ministry said in a statement read on state television that one member of the security forces was killed and two others were wounded. The circumstances surrounding the incident were not clear. Officials first said that militants attacked a deserted building near the radio and television complex and that a gunfight broke out with security. But they did not say why an empty building was targeted.
According to the Interior Ministry’s subsequent statement, the incident occurred after security forces suspected an “extremist terrorist unit” was in the area and engaged it. The statement said the captured militants were being interrogated to determine their motives and possible targets.
It was not immediately known whether the attackers belong to the militant group Jund Al-Sham that has clashed with Syrian security forces on several occasions. Jund Al-Sham was formed in Afghanistan by Syrian, Palestinian and Jordanian militants with links to Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, the head of Al-Qaeda in Iraq.
In March, Syrian anti-terrorist forces killed a top Jund Al-Sham militant and his bodyguard during a clash northwest of Damascus.
Mohammed Ali Nasif, who the agency declared “the most-wanted of the Jund Al-Sharm terrorist and takfiri organizations,” died after a gunbattle in Zabadani, some 45 kilometers northwest of Damascus. His bodyguard, Yasser Adawi, was also killed, and a security official was wounded.
Syria has been under pressure to root out suspected militants the United States claims use Syrian territory to plan attacks in Israel and Iraq.
In December, Syrian anti-terrorist forces clashed with Islamic militants in Idlib, 330 kilometers north of Damascus, killing five of them. Three others, wearing explosives’ belts, blew themselves up.
Also in December, Syria announced it had uncovered a bomb-making factory in the northern city of Aleppo, discovering plans for attacks on public buildings and security headquarters in Syria.
