At least 60 people were killed and 110 wounded on Sunday in three bomb blasts near the revered shrine of Hazrat Zainab (RA) outside the Syrian capital Damascus, state media said.
State news agency SANA said the first blast was caused by a car bomb that detonated at a bus station near the shrine.
It said two suicide bombers then detonated their explosive belts when people gathered at the scene.
The eyewitnesses said the blasts caused massive damage, shattering windows and ripping a huge crater in the road.
Smoke rose from the twisted carcasses of more than a dozen cars and a bus damaged in the blasts, as ambulances ferried away the wounded and firefighters worked to put out blazes started by the bombings.
The shrine south of the capital contains the grave of a granddaughter of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) and is particularly revered as a pilgrimage site by Muslims.
It has continued to attract pilgrims from Syria and beyond, particularly from Iran, Lebanon, and Iraq, throughout the war, and has been targeted in previous bomb attacks.
In February 2015, two suicide attacks killed four people and wounded 13 at a checkpoint near the shrine.
Also that month, a blast ripped through a bus carrying Lebanese pilgrims headed to Hazrat Zainab (RA), killing at least nine people, in an attack claimed by Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Sunday's attack.
The area around the shrine is heavily secured with regime checkpoints set up hundreds of metres away to prevent vehicles from getting close to the shrine of Hazrat Zainab (RA).
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, members of Lebanon's powerful group Hezbollah are among those deployed at the checkpoints.
The Britain-based monitor said 47 people were killed in the blasts, including a car bomb that targeted a checkpoint, and included non-Syrian militants without specifying their nationalities.
Hezbollah is a staunch ally of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad and has dispatched fighters to bolster his troops against the uprising that began in March 2011 with anti-government protests.
More than 260,000 people have been killed in Syria's conflict, which has also displaced over half the country's population internally and abroad.
Bombings claimed by the Islamic State group have killed at least 60 people, including 25 Shiite fighters, and wounded dozens near Syria's holiest Shiite shrine outside the capital Damascus.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3425296/At-60-killed-dozens-wounded-Syria-attack-ISIS-suicide-bombers-target-military-bus-outside-Damascus-near-revered-Shiite-shrine.html#ixzz3yr03pWcs
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
Bombings claimed by the Islamic State group have killed at least 60 people, including 25 Shiite fighters, and wounded dozens near Syria's holiest Shiite shrine outside the capital Damascus.
The first blast was caused by a car bomb that went off at a bus station by a public transport garage near the Sayyida Zeinab shrine.
Two suicide bombers then set off their explosive belts when people gathered at the scene, according to official SANA news agency.
Syrian security forces and residents gather at the site of suicide bombings in the area of a revered Shiite shrine in the town of Sayyida Zeinab, on the outskirts of Damascus
The first blast was caused by a car bomb that went off at a bus station by a public transport garage near the Sayyida Zeinab shrine
Two suicide bombers then set off their explosive belts when people gathered at the scene, according to official SANA news agency
SHARE THIS ARTICLE
'Bodies were still being pulled from the wreckage,' a witness told state news channel Ikhbariyah.
The explosion tore a massive crater in the road and was so powerful that it scorched the facade of a six-storey building.
State television showed footage of burning buildings and wrecked cars in the neighbourhood.
ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack with a statement circulated on social media.
The explosion tore a massive crater in the road and was so powerful that it scorched the facade of a six-storey building
State television showed footage of burning buildings and wrecked cars in the neighbourhood
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the casualties were expected to rise from the attack, which targeted a military bus carrying Shiite militias who were changing guard there
Sayyida Zeinab, south of Damascus, contains the grave of a granddaughter of the Prophet Mohammed and is particularly revered as a pilgrimage site by Shiite Muslims from Iran, Lebanon and Iraq
The Sunni extremist group, which considers Shiite 'heretics' and legitimate targets, said two of its members had detonated suicide bombs.
'Two soldiers of the caliphate carried out martyrdom operations in a den of the infidels in the Sayyida Zeinab area, killing nearly 50 and injuring around 120,' it said.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the casualties were expected to rise from the attack, which targeted a military bus carrying Shiite militias who were changing guard there.
Sayyida Zeinab, south of Damascus, contains the grave of a granddaughter of the Prophet Mohammed and is particularly revered as a pilgrimage site by Shiite Muslims from Iran, Lebanon and Iraq.
ISIS, which considers Shiite 'heretics' and legitimate targets, said two of its members had detonated suicide bombs
A member of the Syrian pro-government forces inspects the damage following suicide bombings in the area
The explosions occurred as representatives of Syria's government and its divided opposition began convening in Geneva for the first U.N.-mediated peace talks in two years
A portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is seen at the site of the suicide bombings
The cover of a Koran, Islam's holy book, is seen in the wreckage of a car following the attack
It is a heavily populated area and has continued to attract pilgrims throughout the five-year-old civil war. It has been targeted by ISIS extremists before, most recently in February last year.
The explosions occurred as representatives of Syria's government and its divided opposition began convening in Geneva for the first U.N.-mediated peace talks in two years.
Syrian Ambassador Ibrahim Jaafari, head of the government delegation at Geneva, said the blasts in Damascus just confirmed the link between what the government says are a Saudi-led and funded Islamist 'opposition' and terrorism.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3425296/At-60-killed-dozens-wounded-Syria-attack-ISIS-suicide-bombers-target-military-bus-outside-Damascus-near-revered-Shiite-shrine.html#ixzz3yr03pWcs
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
