Syria's Interior Ministry said on Monday that one of its security personnel had been killed as its forces thwarted an attack by two ISIS militants on a command headquarters of the country's internal security forces in the city of Raqqa. According to a ministry statement, two suicide attackers attempted to storm the facility. Security personnel engaged the pair, neutralizing one of them, while the second detonated an explosive vest after being surrounded. Three security personnel were also wounded in the attack, the statement added. Earlier, the Syrian state news agency had cited the Interior Ministry's spokesperson as saying that preliminary information indicated at least two ministry personnel were killed in a suicide attack on a ministry camp in Raqqa. In February, ISIS declared a new phase of operations against the government of President Ahmed al-Sharaa and has since carried out a spate of attacks, including one that killed four Syrian security personnel near Raqqa. Last year, Sharaa's government joined the US-led coalition fighting ISIS. At the peak of its power during the Syrian civil war a decade ago, ISIS controlled around a quarter or more of Syria, before being driven out of the territory by a US-led coalition and other foes.
