May 19 (Reuters) - One Syrian soldier was killed and at least 18 people were wounded by a car bomb that exploded on Tuesday outside a Defence Ministry building in Damascus, authorities said.
Soldiers had discovered a different bomb near the building in the capital's Bab Sharqi district and were trying to dismantle it when the car bomb went off nearby, the Defence Ministry said in a statement carried by state media.
The head of Syria's ambulance and emergency directorate, Najib al-Nassan, told state-owned agency SANA that 18 injured people had been taken to hospitals after the explosion.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
(Reporting by Feras Dalatey, Jana Choukeir and Khalil Ashawi; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Alison Williams)
