At least eight people were killed and 15 injured in a suicide bombing that hit the Police Officers' Club in Damascus on Tuesday.
The Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the attack, saying 20 people were killed and 40 injured in the attack.
A suicide bomber named Abu Abdul-Rahman al-Shami infiltrated the Police Officers' Club in Masaken Barzeh district of Damascus by his explosive-laden vehicle, Xinhua cited a group statement as saying.
"We have turned their security into a horror... and they will never feel the security, neither will their soldiers," the IS statement said.
"Wait for the next, it will be worse," the group said.
Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights placed the death toll at nine and those injured at 20.
The suicide bomber was disguised in a police uniform and detonated his booby-trapped vehicle at the entrance of the club, it said.
The Britain-based watchdog group said the explosion is part of the series of explosions the IS has threatened to undertake against the capital Damascus.
Masaken Barzeh is a district north of Damascus that has seen no car bombings before throughout the country's long-running conflict, a source said.
