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Syrian soldiers battled a small group of insurgents, including a suicide bomber, who attacked a Syrian military logistics facility in the capital Monday, militants and activists said, The Daily Star reported, citing news agencies.

The relatively rare Damascus attack took place in the Rukn al-Din neighborhood and was claimed by the Al-Qaeda branch in Syria, with the attackers on motorcycles detonating a suicide bomb when Syrian security forces came near, a security official told AFP.

“When they realized they could not escape, one of them detonated a suicide belt he was wearing,” he said, saying security forces killed the remaining attackers.

However, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said one attacker detonated his vest when he approached an army general in his car, with a further two militants killed in ensuing clashes.

Syrian state media said all the militants were killed, but provided no further details.
The director of the Britain-based Observatory, Rami Abdurrahman, said the bombing appeared to target Gen. Mohammad Eid, who is responsible for army logistics and supplies. He said the general was wounded in the blast, while three of his guards were killed in the ensuing clashes with the militant attackers.

The Observatory relies on a network of activists inside Syria for its information. But the security official denied that Eid had been wounded, and said that none of his men were killed in the attack.

The Hisham Sinan hospital told AFP that six people were wounded in the blast.

The Al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front posted a claim of responsibility on a Twitter account associated with the group, saying three of the group’s fighters were involved. “With the help of God, three of our lions were able to infiltrate the logistics building,” Nusra posted.