Islamic State group claims Damascus police HQ attack

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for three suicide attacks near the main police headquarters in Syria's capital Damascus on Wednesday, killing at least two people.

In a statement released via the Telegram messaging app, the militant group said two attackers "entered the headquarters building and fought with those inside... then detonated their explosive vests”.

The suicide bombers detonated their explosives in front of the police HQ on Khaled Bin al-Walid street in central Damascus, killing two police officers, Interior Minister Mohammad Shaar said in a statement.

Police surrounded a third attacker behind the building who also blew himself up, it added.

"The terrorist suicide attackers tried to storm the police command headquarters... The guards opened fire on them, forcing them to blow themselves up before they entered the building and achieved their goals," it added.

The interior ministry said two people had been killed and six wounded in the attack, among them two children.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported five dead, not including the three attackers.

It was the second time this month that suicide attackers have targeted police in the capital. At least 17 people were killed in an October 2 attack on a police station in the southern district of Midan.

That attack was also claimed by IS, which said three fighters armed with guns, grenades and explosives had targeted the station.

Damascus has been shaken by several bomb attacks, despite being largely spared from the worst of the violence in the six-year war.

Meanwhile, government troops and US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, a coalition of Kurdish and Arab fighters, are leading separate offensives against the jihadists in northern and eastern Syria.

More than 330,000 people have been killed in Syria since the country's conflict began in March 2011 with anti-government protests.

Agencies contributed to this report.