4 Dead in Damascus Bombings near Sayyida Zeinab Shrine
Two simultaneous suicide attacks killed four people and wounded 13 on Monday in southern Damascus near a Shiite shrine, Syria's state news agency SANA reported.
The agency, quoting police, said the twin attack took place at a security checkpoint near the shrine of Sayyida Zeinab, a granddaughter of the Prophet Mohammed.
"A civilian car had stopped at the checkpoint... and a terrorist got out wearing an explosive vest which he detonated," SANA said, adding that seconds later a man who had remained in the car blew it up.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the bombing targeted a checkpoint manned by a pro-regime militia, just 10 kilometers (six miles) east of Damascus and on the road to the international airport.
On February 1, a blast ripped through a bus carrying Lebanese Shiite pilgrims in the city, killing at least nine people in an attack claimed by al-Qaida's Syrian branch.
At the time, the bus had been heading to Sayyida Zeinab which is controlled by the Syrian army and allied militias.
The Britain-based Observatory also reported that a rocket hit the Adra prison northeast of Damascus on Monday, killing four people and wounding 15.
It did not say if the casualties were prisoners, guards or visitors.
Source: Agence France Presse
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://naharnet.com/stories/en/168698 |