At least 12 people have been killed in suicide bomb attacks on a suburb of Damascus which is home to Syria’s holiest Shia shrine, state media say.<\/p>\n
Islamic State group said three militants – two carrying explosives belts and one with a car bomb – carried out the attacks in Sayyida Zeinab, 10km (six miles) south of the centre.<\/p>\n
At least 55 other people were wounded.<\/p>\n
Sayyida Zeinab, a predominantly Shia area, has been a frequent target of attacks from jihadi groups.<\/p>\n
The Sunni IS group says it was behind at least two other bombings in the district earlier this year that killed more than 150 people.<\/p>\n
Syrian state media said Sayyida Zeinab was hit by two blasts on Saturday – a suicide attack at the entrance to the district and then a car bomb attack in al-Teen street, not far from the shrine.<\/p>\n
There were a number of women and children among the casualties, and some of the injuries were serious, Sana news agency said.<\/p>\n
The IS-affiliated Amaq news agency later said three IS militants carried out the attacks.<\/p>\n
The golden-domed Sayyida Zeinab shrine contains the grave of one of the Prophet Muhammad’s grand-daughters, and continues to draw many Shia pilgrims despite the civil war.<\/p>\n
Shia fighters from around the region have joined the conflict in Syria on the grounds that they wish to protect the shrine from the civil war, observers say.<\/p>\n
The Lebanese Shia movement Hezbollah has cited it as a key reason that it chose to fight on the side of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.<\/p>\n
But this has made this suburb a prime target for the government’s enemies, including IS, the BBC’s Alan Johnston says.<\/p>\n
More than 250,000 people have died and 11 million have fled their homes in more than five years of civil war in Syria.<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At least 12 people have been killed in suicide bomb attacks on a suburb of Damascus which is home to Syria’s holiest Shia shrine, state media say. Islamic State group said three militants – two carrying explosives belts and one with a car bomb – carried out the attacks in Sayyida Zeinab, 10km (six miles) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":221652,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[107],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n