Four killed in bomb attacks near Hazrat Zeinab shrine in Damascus

At least four people have been killed in two bomb attacks near the holy shrine of Hazrat Zeinab, Prophet Muhammad’s granddaughter, in the Syrian capital of Damascus.

At least 13 other people also sustained injures in the two simultaneous bomb attacks near the holy shrine in the southern part of Damascus on Monday, Syria’s state news agency SANA reported.

The bomb blasts targeted a security check point located near the shrine, according to the country’s police.

“A civilian car had stopped at the checkpoint… and a terrorist got out wearing an explosive vest which he detonated,” said the report, adding that after a few moments another individual who was in the car blew it up.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, but foreign-backed Takfiri groups such as ISIL and the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front are committing gruesome acts of terrorism in their operations in the Arab country.

Hazrat Zeinab (Peace be upon her) is one of the sisters of Imam Hossein, the third Shia Imam, peace be upon him.

At least seven people were killed and 20 others injured when a bomb blast hit a bus carrying Lebanese Shia pilgrims in the central district of Souq al-Hamadiyeh in the Syrian capital in a similar heinous act of terrorism on February 1.

Syria has been grappling with a deadly crisis since March 2011. The violence fuelled by Takfiri groups has so far claimed the lives of over 200,000 people, according to reports. New figures show that over 76,000 people, including thousands of children, lost their lives in Syria last year.

Over 7.2 million Syrians have also become internally displaced due to the ongoing crisis, according to the United Nations.