Syrian police officer killed in Aleppo suicide bombing on New Year’s Eve

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — One Syrian police officer was killed and others wounded in a suicide bombing late Wednesday in the northern city of Aleppo, Syrian state media reported.

A patrol of the Internal Security Forces was attempting to detain the bomber in the neighborhood near the Bab al-Faraj archaeological site when he detonated himself, according to state news agency SANA.

Aleppo governor Azzam al-Gharib said in a statement that the police patrol was on duty securing the New Year celebrations in the city when they spotted the bomber and chased after him. One of the police officers “managed to physically restrain him” when the man detonated an explosive belt, he said.

He said the situation was “under control.”

Syrian Interior Ministry spokesperson Nour al-Din al-Baba told Syrian state TV that the attacker appeared to be trying to enter a Christian neighborhood containing a number of churches.

Heavy security was in place Wednesday in Syrian cities out of fear of attacks on New Year’s gatherings.

Last week, at least eight people were killed and 18 wounded by explosives planted in an Alawite mosque in the city of Homs.

A little-known group calling itself Saraya Ansar al-Sunna claimed responsibility for that attack and indicated that it intended to target members of the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam whom hard-line Islamists consider to be apostates.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s bombing.