Feature: Traumatized Syrians astonished over new deadly bombings

Syrians in the Shiite Sayyidah Zaynab district south of Damascus expressed deep sorrow over the triple bombings that deprived 70 lives of their fellows and relatives earlier on Sunday.

"They have carried out this explosion because they are cowered. If they were not cowards, they would have come to fight us with their rifles, but they are cowards. May God curse them," a teary-eyed woman in her 40s told Xinhua with a defiant tone.

Earlier in the day, the Islamic State (IS) group carried out the triple bombings in Sayyidah Zaynab, starting with the blast of an explosive-laden car that targeted a passenger bus in the Al-Sudan street.

When people started crowding at the site to see what had happened, two IS suicide bombers wearing explosive belts detonated themselves in the crowds.

At the site, scenes of destruction and carnage were everywhere. Paramedics were frantically attempting to help the wounded, and Shiite fighters in camouflages gathered in the area.

Broken windows, shattered facades as well as burnt concert with a black smoke blowing the area captured the scene.

The smell of the burned concert mingled with blood after being sprayed with water from firefighters was so strong, sending chills in the bodies of those looking as if it is the smell of death.

Targeting this district holds significance for the IS, who deems the Shiite people as "infidels."

The enmity toward the Shiite people also emanates from the group's battles against Hezbollah and the Syrian army across Syria.

Hezbollah has been guarding the district for a long time, due to its Shiite population and also the holy shrine of Zaynab, the granddaughter of Islam Prophet Muhammad.

A source familiar with the incident told Xinhua that 76 people were killed in that neighborhood, while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition monitor group, said 25 Shiite fighters were killed by the blast.

A man in his 40s said with an apparent shock that "this is a popular marketplace, and all of the people here know that this is a marketplace busy with people. We don't even have army here, so why would they do such an explosion? They came to blow up our women, because they are women."

Another woman from Sayyidah Zaynab said: "This is a terrorist act, an act of people who don't fear God, who don't respect humanity. If they were humans, they wouldn't have done this."

Her 14-year-old son, who is a school student, wondered why would anyone do such a horrible act.

"Why did they do that? what is our guilt? we can not study or focus at school after the explosion. May God punish them for what they have done, no matter who they are."

The Sayyidah Zaynab shrine became a center of religious studies of the adherents of the Shiite sect of Islam and a destination of mass pilgrimage by Shiite Muslims from across the Muslim world.

On June 14, 2012, a suicide car bomb tore through that district, wounding around 14 people.

Since mid-summer 2012, the district has been under frequent attacks and shelling by the ultra-radical rebels, who aim to attack the Shiite people due to their supportive stance on the Syrian government and their religious background about the Shiite-Sunni conflict.

As the district holds religious significance to the Shiite people, Hezbollah sent fighters to protect the shrine.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry condemned the attacks as part of "the attempts of the terrorist organizations which are supported by governments of foreign countries such as Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar to disrupt the current attempts to start a Syrian-Syrian dialogue," referring to the ongoing reconciliations and negotiations between the government and rebel groups.

Meanwhile, the ministry stressed the need to move away from politicization and double standards in dealing with combating terrorism, to respect the principles of the international law in this regard and to support the efforts of the government of the Syrian Arab Republic in combating terrorism. Endit