BEIRUT (AP) - A Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda has claimed responsibility for suicide attacks on security compounds in Damascus that killed at least five people.

Jabhat al-Nusra claimed Sunday's attacks in Damascus in a statement posted on a militant website on Tuesday.

The statement said the group sent seven suicide bombers wearing Syrian military uniforms to break into a police station in northern Damascus and a security compound in a southern district of the capital.

The statement warned President Bashar Assad's government that the "criminal regime" should know that the group's fighters "do not fear any confrontation with the enemies".

The Nusra Front has emerged as the most effective fighting force in the Syrian conflict on the opposition side.