Maher al-Assad, the younger brother of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, was injured in the Damascus explosion that killed key officials yesterday, Al Arab reported, citing the head of the Supreme Council of the Free Syrian Army.

Brigadier General Mustafa al-Sheikh said he had prior information about the bomb attack that took place a day earlier than scheduled because of some unexpected circumstances which he did not explain, the Doha, Qatar-based newspaper reported.

The explosion, the most serious attack on officials since the uprising started in March 2011, killed Assad’s brother-in- law, his defense minister and the vice president’s military adviser at Syria’s national security headquarters.

To contact the reporter on this story: Nayla Razzouk in Dubai at nrazzouk2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net