Two suicide attacks near the Syrian capital kill 12 and injure dozens

Reporting from BEIRUT —  A pair of suicide bombers struck a Damascus suburb on Saturday, killing at least 12 people and injuring 55 others in an attack near the holiest of Shiite Islam’s shrines in Syria, state media reported.

According to the official account, one of the explosions was caused by a bomber who detonated an explosives belt at the entrance to Sayyida Zeinab, home to a shrine by the same name some six miles south of the Syrian capital. A car bombing followed in a street nearer to the shrine.

The Islamic State-affiliated news agency Aamaq said the group’s militants had carried out the attack but reported there were three bombers in all -- two wearing explosive belts and one in the car. It was not immediately possible to explain the discrepancy.

The shrine, an ornate mosque with a stunning glass-adorned interior, is thought to be the burial site of Zeinab, granddaughter of the prophet Mohammad and daughter of Ali, Shiite Islam’s most important figure. Before the Syrian war, it drew hundreds of thousands of visitors and was a center of Shiite learning.

The mostly residential suburb housing the shrine is a regular target of attacks by opponents of the Syrian government, including hard-line Islamist groups that view Shiites as apostates. A series of bombings claimed by Islamic State in January and February killed more than 200 people and wounded hundreds of others.

The violence has pushed the government to ramp up security around the shrine, with checkpoints manned by both army regulars and cadres from the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah.

On Saturday, Syrian state TV broadcast footage of the burning shell of a car spewing a thick plume of smoke into the air as families and emergency crews raced to evacuate the wounded.

The attack highlights once again the sectarian nature of the five-year war, which has killed more than 250,000 people by some estimates, ravaged the country’s infrastructure and caused a refugee crisis in the Middle East and Europe.

Although the conflict began in 2011 as a mostly peaceful anti-government uprising, it has devolved into a battlefield that has drawn in thousands of foreign fighters wanting to take part in what they regard as a holy war.

They include Shiite Muslims from Lebanon, Iran, Iraq and even Afghanistan, who say they have come to defend Sayyida Zeinab and other shrines in Syria from the threat of Sunni extremists.

Islamic State, meanwhile, has drawn Sunni recruits from around the world to its self-declared caliphate. Other Sunni groups, such as the Al Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front, have also attracted foreign fighters to their cause.

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Bulos is a special correspondent.

UPDATES:

10:17 a.m.: This article was updated with the death toll rising to 12 and staff reporting.

This article was originally published at 4:54 a.m.