Turkey will not allow extremists to return Syria to chaos and instability, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

His words come after a suicide bombing killed 22 people in a church in Damascus, AFP reported.

“We will never allow our neighbor and brotherly people of Syria to be dragged into a new environment of instability by terrorist organizations acting as intermediaries,” he said, promising to support the new government's fight against such groups.

The Turkish head of state did not explain what he meant by “proxy” groups, but promised that Turkey would “continue to support the Syrian government's fight against terrorism.”

The government in Damascus blamed the shooting and suicide bombing on June 22—the first of its kind in the Syrian capital since the fall of strongman Bashar al-Assad six months ago—on fighters from the Islamic State (ISIS) group.

It described the attack as an attempt to “undermine national coexistence and destabilize the country,” which is just beginning to emerge from the chaos of civil war following Assad's ouster six months ago.

Turkey was a key supporter of the FSA rebels who ousted Assad under the leadership of Ahmed al-Shaar, now interim president, and has repeatedly offered operational and military assistance to fight ISIL and other armed groups. | BGNES