Syria’s Defense Minister, General Daoud Rajha, and Assad’s brother-in-law, Assef Shawkat, who is also the Deputy Minister of Defense, were killed in a Wednesday’s suicide bomb attack on the National Security headquarters in Damascus, state TV said.

Syrian state TV said Interior Minister, Mohammed al-Shaar, is still alive and in a “stable condition,” after Arab TV stations reported his death.

Security officials told AFP that several other participants in a top-level meeting were wounded in the blast and taken to al-Shami hospital in the capital for treatment.

The suicide bomber worked as bodyguard for President Assad’s inner circle, Syrian security source told Reuters.

“A suicide attack has targeted the National Security building,” Syria’s state TV said of the security apparatus headed by Hisham Ikhtiar. The building is a heavily guarded headquarters in the city’s central Rawda district.

“The terrorist explosion which targeted the national security building in Damascus occurred during a meeting of Ministers and a number of Heads of (security) agencies,” the television said.

The television said that the bombing had wounded people attending the Ministers’ meeting, some of them are in critical conditions.

Source :AFP; Reuters