A powerful blast caused by a suicide bomber hit a heavily policed district of the Syrian capital on Thursday.

At least seven people were killed during the bombing in Damascus. State television expanded on the situation saying that the attacker blew himself up in the Kafr Sousa neighbourhood - where several government buildings are based.

Footage showed destroyed cars and the security forces deploying in force in the aftermath of the bombing.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights which tracks violence across the country said the death toll was expected to rise with several of those injured said to be in a critical condition. 

Last July a car bomb also hit Kafr Sousa near an Iranian school in an attack that killed several people in the area, close to the main Umayyad Square that connects the city with several highways. 

Damascus is mostly under the control of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but rebel groups are present in outlying districts of the city which is sometimes subjected to opposition shelling.