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Update: 3 bombings kill 30 in Shiite Damascus' district: state TV

Xinhua, February 21, 2016 Adjust font size:

At least 30 people were killed and tens of others injured on Sunday in three bombings that rocked a predominantly-Shiite district south of the capital Damascus, Syria's state-TV said.

The bombings targeted the Sayyidah Zaynab district in Damascus, said the TV, adding that the first explosion was a car bomb, followed by two other explosions by two suicide bombers.

The blasts took place close to the al-Sader Hospital in Teen Street in that sprawling district.

Meanwhile, a source told Xinhua that five explosions rocked the Sayyidah Zaynab district, where a key Shiite shrine is located containing the tomb of Zaynab, Islam's Prophet Muhammad's granddaughter.

The bombings are the latest in a series of explosions targeting the district, guarded by Lebanon's Hezbollah group fighters.

At least 45 people died and 100 others were wounded last month when two explosions shook the same Shiite district.

The Sayyidah Zaynab tomb is a center of religious studies for adherents of the Shiite sect of Islam as well as a mass pilgrimage destination for Shiite Muslims from across the world.

The bombings in Sayyidah Zaynab occurred just a few hours following a series of twin bombings which killed 46 people in the pro-government district of Zahra' in downtown Homs.

No party has yet claimed responsibility for the blasts but they hold the Islamic State (IS) group's telltale signs. Endit