Assistant Vice-President, General Hasan Turkmani, said in a statement “The news reported by al-Jazeera is completely baseless and reflects full media bankruptcy”.’ My colleagues and I are safe and sound and serving our duties assuredly,” he added.

Minister al-Shaar said, ”I am speaking from my office at the Interior Ministry…All my colleagues are performing their duties. It is regrettable that we became accustomed to such laughable news by bankrupt channels since the onset of the crisis in Syria that encourage shedding more Syrian blood,” according to SANA agency.

The Free Syrian army has claimed responsibilty for killing several top officials in President Bashar Assad’s regime, rebel leaders reported on Sunday. Among the dead, according to the rebels, were Assad’s brother-in-law and head of military intelligence Assef Shawkat and Defense Minister Dawoud Rajiha, Interior Minister al-Shaar, and vice-president Hasan Turkmani.

A rebel leader in a skype conversation with Al Jazeera vowed to release the first proof for the killing of the officials. Until now nothing has been released.

Meanwhile, heavy fighting erupted Sunday between Syrian troops and rebels on the outskirts of the capital Damascus in Kafarsoueh, according to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The explosions were caused by shelling attacks by Syrian forces, it added.

Several explosions also rocked the city of Douma after midnight, as regime forces shelled frams in Rihawn, near Douma, accoridng to Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

On Saturday, a car bomb killed nine people at a Syrian military post in the eastern city of Deir al-Zor. The SANA news agency said the blast had been the work of a suicide bomber at what it called military installations. State television called the blast part of a campaign funded by Saudi Arabia and Qatar to topple Assad.

President Barack Obama told G8 leaders meeting at Camp David that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must leave power, and pointed to Yemen as a model of how political transition could work there, the White House said on Saturday.