At the blood-stained Saint Elias church in Damascus, Umm George wept as she desperately searched for her son, who was among the worshippers when a suicide bomber struck on Sunday.

In vain, she tried to convince Syrian security forces, who had cordoned off the area, to let her into the church, whose windows had been blown out and whose interior was covered with debris and damaged pews.

"My son was praying in the church," she told AFP. "I tried to contact him but his mobile phone is off the air and I haven't been able to find him."

"I'm afraid I won't hear his voice again," she said, breaking down.

Panicked family members rushed to the church in the working-class Dwelaa district of the Syrian capital........

© Al Monitor