At least 25 people were killed and 63 injured in an attack on a Greek Orthodox Church in Syria during a Sunday evening Divine Liturgy attended by nearly 400 faithful.

The atrocity has been blamed on the Islamic State terrorist group and is the first deadly, religiously motivated attack on Christians since the toppling of the Assad regime in December.

Eyewitnesses reported that one attacker fired at worshippers from outside the Church while another entered to detonate a grenade.

Two parishioners, Jiris and Boutros Bishara, intervened and wrestled the explosive device away from the second man, preventing an immediate detonation. However, while being dragged outside, the attacker activated his suicide belt, resulting in a massive explosion that killed and wounded dozens and caused extensive destruction.

The attack has been condemned by the Country’s Islamic leadership with President Ahmad al-Sharaa calling it a “heinous crime” and vowing to bring the perpetrators “to face their just punishment.

French President Emmanuel Macron also denounced the “horrible” attack while Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis expressed anger and called on the authorities “to take concrete measures to protect all ethnic and religious minorities”.