It was the first confirmation that Interior Minister Mohammed al-Shaar was wounded in a deadly bombing on December 12 in central Damascus that killed 5 people and wounded more than 20, according to AP. At the time, state-run Syrian TV SANA said he was not wounded.

It is the second time that the interior minister has been wounded in an attack. Shaar was almost killed in a deadly July 18 bombing that claimed the lives of four other top security officials, including the defense minister and the brother-in-law of President Bashar Assad.

The Syrian jihadist opposition group, al-Nusra Front, claimed responsibility in a statement via their official Twitter account. 

“Thank God, we targeted the interior ministry building in Kfar Sousa district in Damascus at 5:30 pm on Wednesday, Dec. 12,” the group tweeted.

Meanwhile on Tuesday, clashes between rebels and armed Palestinians loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad continued to rage in a Palestinian refugee camp outside Damascus as hundreds of Palestinians flooded into Lebanon in the past hours.

The rebels, fighting to topple President Bashar Assad, have taken full control of Yarmouk camp, according to rebel sources while Syrian military have surrounded the camp.

There were no Syrian government troops in the camp and most of the fighting was between rebels and PFLP-GC gunmen, residents said, according to Reuters.

The group is led by Ahmed Jibril, Assad’s longtime ally. Many PFLP-GC fighters defected to the rebel side and their leader Ahmed Jibril left the camp three days ago to the city of Tartous, according to media reports.

The offensive in the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk in southern Damascus is aimed at driving the pro-government Palestinian gunmen out of the camp.