The interior ministry reported a bomb exploded near the most visited Shiite pilgrimage site in Syria, the Sayeda Zeinab mausoleum, on Thursday, killing six people and injuring many more.
The catastrophic blow south of Damascus occurred just days before the annual commemoration of Ashura, when Shiites recall the death of Imam Hussein, the Prophet Mohammed’s grandson, in a seventh-century battle.
The interior ministry reported six deaths, up from five previously reported.
More than 20 people were injured in the attack, which the interior ministry described as a ‘terrorist bombing’ after a motorcycle exploded near a taxi.
Earlier, a source at the neighboring Al-Sadr hospital told the media that a car bombing near the shrine had left ten people injured.
According to State television, the explosion was triggered by a bomb placed in a taxi by unknown people.
“We heard a huge blast and people began to run”, Ibrahim, a 39-year-old civil servant, explained.
“Then ambulances arrived and security forces cordoned off the area”, he added.
He stated that the explosion occurred near a security building around 600 metres (yards) from the mausoleum of Sayeda Zeinab, granddaughter of the Prophet Mohammed and the daughter of Imam Ali, a Shiite Islam foundational figure.
The authorities had increased security around the tomb in preparation for the 10-day Ashura commemoration, the most important in Shiite Islam.
An explosion in a car in the same location injured two individuals on Tuesday.
Shiite shrines are frequently targeted by Sunni Muslim extremists affiliated with the Islamic State group (IS), not only in Syria but also in neighboring Iraq.
Several deadly attacks targeted the Sayeda Zeinab mausoleum during the country’s civil war, which erupted in 2011.
Since then, Shiite militiamen, largely Lebanese and Iraqis, as well as the army, have defended the mosque complex with its turquoise ceramics and gold dome in the Iranian style.
Despite this, attacks have decreased in recent years, as some security procedures have been relaxed.
IS claimed responsibility for a twin suicide strike 400 meters from the mausoleum in February 2016, which killed 134 people, including more than 90 civilians.
The group also claimed responsibility for a triple blast near the sanctuary several weeks earlier, which killed at least 70 people.
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