The Sayeda Zeinab mausoleum is Syria’s most popular Shiite pilgrimage site. On Thursday, a bomb near the mausoleum burst, killing six people and injuring many more, according to the interior ministry.
The devastating explosion occurred south of Damascus just days before Shiites commemorate Imam Hussein, the Prophet Mohammed’s grandson, who was killed in a seventh-century battle.
State news agency SANA stated that the interior ministry revised an earlier dead toll of five to six.
The attack, which the interior ministry described as a “terrorist bombing” and claimed to have been started when a motorcycle burst next to a cab, left more than 20 people injured.
AFP was earlier informed by a source at the neighboring Al-Sadr hospital that 10 injured people had been transported there following a car bombing close to the site.
According to state media, a “bomb placed in a taxi by unidentified people” was to blame for the explosion.
“We heard a huge blast and people began to run,” 39-year-old civil servant Ibrahim told AFP.
“Then ambulances arrived and security forces cordoned off the area.”
He said the explosion took place “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 founding figure of Shiite Islam.
In preparation for the 10-day Ashura observance, the most significant in Shiite Islam, the authorities had increased security measures around the monument.
Two civilians were hurt in the same region on Tuesday after a car exploded, according to a security officer quoted in official media.
Sunni Muslim militants of the Islamic State group (IS) frequently attack Shiite shrines, not just in Syria but also in neighboring Iraq.
