By Mohamed Misto
DAMASCUS (AA) – More than 70 people were killed on Sunday by twin suicide bombings that targeted Sayyida Zaynab shrine south of Damascus. Daesh has claimed responsibility.
According to local sources, a car bomb exploded at a checkpoint protecting the shrine, manned by Shia Muslim militiamen near Sayyida Zaynab shrine south of the capital.
Almost immediately afterward, a suicide bomber blew himself up near the checkpoint, the same sources said.
Syria’s official SANA news agency, for its part, said that 71 people had been killed — and another 40 injured — by the twin blasts.
Sunday’s attack occurred as representatives of the Syrian Government and opposition groups gathered in Geneva for UN-sponsored peace talks.
Syria has remained locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011 when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.
Since then, more than 250,000 people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced, according to figures released by the UN.
[Additional reporting The Muslim News]
[Photo: Permanent Representative of the Syria to the United Nations, Bashar Jaafari delivers a speech on peace talks during a press conference in Geneva, Switzerland on January 31, 2016. Photographer: Fatih Erel/AA]
