Twin bombings leave 40 dead in Damascus

A double bomb explosion targeting Shia Muslim pilgrims in Damascus killed at least 40 Iraqis and wounded 120, the Iraqi foreign ministry said, in one of the bloodiest attacks yet in the heart of the Syrian capital.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Saturday’s attack, which the Hezbollah-run Al-Manar TV station said was carried out by two suicide bombers.

Footage broadcast by Syrian state TV showed two badly damaged buses with their windows blown out. The area was splattered with blood and shoes were scattered on the ground.

Ahmed Jamal, Iraq’s foreign ministry spokesman, issued a statement condemning Saturday’s attacks, and said initial reports suggested many of the dead were Iraqis.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a roadside bomb detonated as a bus drove past and a suicide bomber blew himself up in the Bab al-Saghir area, which houses several Shia Islam mausoleums that draw pilgrims from around the world.

The second blast went off some 10 minutes after the first at around 10am local time, inflicting casualties on civil defence workers who had gathered to tend to the casualties, according to Al-Manar.

The pilgrims were due to pray at the cemetery after visiting the Sayeda Zeinab shrine just outside Damascus, the channel reported.

The Sana state news agency reported that “two bombs planted by terrorists exploded near the Bab al-Saghir cemetery in Bab Musalla, causing dead and wounded”. The UK-based organisation said the death toll was at least 44 but the figure is expected to rise given the number of serious injuries.

In June Isis claimed responsibility for bomb attacks near the Sayeda Zeinab shrine. The last bomb attack in Damascus was in January, when a suicide bomber hit the heavily policed Kafr Sousa neighbourhood, killing at least seven people.