SANA- Interior Ministry spokesman, Noureddine al-Baba, said on Tuesday that following a security operation based on preliminary information and in coordination with the General Intelligence Service, Syrian security units in Damascus countryside carried out an operation targeting the locations of the terrorist cell that carried out the bombing of Mar Elias Church in al-Dweilaa neighborhood.
“The cell is linked to Daesh and has no connection to any religious organization,” al-Baba said in a press conference.
He added that during investigation with one of the arrested terrorists, he confessed to the locations of all the cell’s hideouts, later the cell was stormed, all its members arrested, weapons and explosives also were confiscated.
“The cell is led by a Syrian national named Muhammad Abdul-Ilah al-Jamaili, known as Abu Imad al-Jamaili. He is a resident of al-Hajar al-Aswad area of Damascus and was known as Daesh’s governor of the desert. His videotaped confessions might be released later once his interrogation is complete,” al-Baba added.
He went on to say that the two suicide bombers, the first who carried out the treacherous church bombing, and the second who was arrested on his way to carry out a suicide bombing at al-Sayyida Zeinab shrine in Damascus countryside came to Damascus from al-Hawl camp, via the Syrian Badiyah, and infiltrated after the capital was liberated with the help of Abu Imad al-Jamaili, taking advantage of the security vacuum at the start of the liberation. They are not Syrians,” the spokesperson said.
He described Daesh as a cross-border terrorist organization, and Syria is cooperating with neighboring countries to combat this terrorist organization.
Mazen Eyon
