BEIRUT — Syria’s interior minister suffered a serious back injury in the bombing of his ministry last week and was taken Wednesday to Beirut for treatment, Lebanese security officials said.

It was the first confirmation that Interior Minister Mohammed al-Shaar was wounded in the Dec. 12 bombing in the capital, Damascus, that killed several people and wounded more than 20. At the time, state-run Syrian TV said he was not hurt. The security officials asked that their names not be used because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Also Wednesday, government forces were carrying out a broad offensive in the suburbs of Damascus against rebels trying to topple the regime, state media reported. The state-run SANA news agency said troops have killed “scores of terrorists” - the government term for the rebels.

The suburbs of the capital have been opposition strongholds since the uprising started. The rebels have recently made significant advances inthe area, capturing air bases and other military installations and clashing with a pro-government Palestinian group for control of the Yarmouk refugee camp in the southern part of the capital.

Bombings like the one that struck the Interior Ministry have been a trademark of Islamic radicals fighting alongside the Syrian rebels, raising concerns about the extremists’ role in the civil war.

Rebels have targeted the center of Damascus with bomb attacks in the past, most dramatically in July when they detonated explosives inside a high-level crisis meeting in Damascus that killed four top regime officials, including Assad’s brother-in-law and thedefense minister.

Activists estimate more than 40,000 people have been killed since the conflict began in March 2011.

SANA said Wednesday’s fighting was taking place in the capital’s southern outskirts of Daraya, Harasta, Douma and Hajar Aswad, an area neighboring the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk.

On Tuesday, Syrian fighter jets bombed Yarmouk for the second time in a week, sending thousands fleeing from the camp. There were no reports on casualties from those strikes. Similar airstrikes Sunday killed at least eight people in Yarmouk, activists said.

The rebel offensive in the camp, which began Friday, isaimed at driving out pro-government Palestinian gunmen of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, or PFLP-GC.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in a statement Wednesday that he had asked U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon to help in taking the Palestinian refugees in Syria to the Palestinian territories. This could include the West Bank, where Abbas governs, or the Hamasruled Gaza Strip.

The statement said 450,000 Palestinian refugees were living in 10 camps in Syria.

Information for this article was contributed by Albert Aji, John Heilprin and Gregory Katz of The Associated Press.

Front Section, Pages 6 on 12/20/2012