BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian state television said a young girl of about nine years of age blew herself up on Friday in a police station in the Midan neighbourhood of Damascus.

State-run Ikhbariya news channel showed blurred images of what looked like a blackened girl’s head in a blanket, and scenes of destruction inside what it said was the police station.

State news agency SANA, quoting a Damascus police source, said there was an explosion in the police station.

A witness in the area of the blast told Reuters a young girl entered the police station and, after asking to go to the toilet, blew herself up.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the war, said there had been an explosion in the Midan area and there were reports of casualties.