A bomb killed six individuals and wounded scores on Thursday when it exploded close to the Sayeda Zeinab mausoleum, Syria’s most visited Shiite pilgrimage web site, the inside ministry stated.

The lethal blast south of Damascus got here forward of the annual commemoration of Ashura, when Shiites bear in mind the demise of the Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, in a seventh century battle.

The inside ministry gave a demise toll of six, state information company SANA reported, revising an earlier demise toll of 5.

More than 20 individuals had been wounded within the assault which the inside ministry stated was brought on when a bike exploded close to a taxi, calling it a “terrorist bombing”.

A supply on the close by Al-Sadr hospital instructed AFP earlier that the power had acquired 10 wounded after a automotive bombing close to the shrine.

State tv reported that the explosion was brought on by a “bomb placed in a taxi by unidentified people”.

“We heard a huge blast and people began to run,” 39-year-old civil servant Ibrahim instructed AFP.

“Then ambulances arrived and security forces cordoned off the area.”

He stated the explosion came about “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 determine of Shiite Islam.

The authorities had tightened safety measures across the mausoleum for the 10-day Ashura commemoration, crucial in Shiite Islam.

On Tuesday, an explosion in a automotive in the identical space wounded two civilians, official media cited a safety official as saying.

Shiite shrines are a frequent goal of assaults by Sunni Muslim extremists of the Islamic State group (IS), not solely in Syria but in addition in neighbouring Iraq.

The Sayeda Zeinab mausoleum was hit by a number of lethal bombings throughout the nation’s civil warfare that erupted in 2011.

Since then, the mosque complicated with its turquoise ceramics and gold dome within the Iranian model has been defended by Shiite militiamen, principally Lebanese and Iraqi, in addition to by the military.

Attacks have nonetheless declined lately, with a number of the safety measures relaxed.

IS stated it was behind a double suicide assault in February 2016, 400 meters from the mausoleum, that killed 134 individuals, together with greater than 90 civilians.

The group had additionally claimed a triple blast close to the sanctuary a number of weeks earlier that took the lives of at the very least 70 individuals.