Daesh claims twin bombings near Shia shrine

At least 30 people were killed and dozens more wounded on Sunday in three bombings near the Sayyidah Zaynab Mosque south of the Syrian capital Damascus, state media said.

After a vehicle bomb went off, people gathered to help the wounded, and then two terrorists detonated their explosive belts, Iranian SANA reported.

The agency said the blasts were caused by a vehicle bomb and two suicide bombers.

The shrine is important for Shia pilgrims as it contains the grave of one of the granddaughters of Prophet Muhammad.

A large Shiite shrine is located in the district.

GENEVA, Switzerland-The UN special envoy for Syria fought Sunday to keep alive the biggest diplomatic push yet to end the Syrian war as Washington urged both sides in fragile peace talks to seize the moment.

“The blasts, one of which was caused by a vehicle bomb, happened near the Shia Muslim shrine of Sayyida Zeinab on Friday”, the interior ministry said.

The Geneva talks, the first in two years, come after a United Nations Security Council resolution laid out a road map aimed at ending the conflict.

Nevertheless Jaafari said the blasts confirmed the link between the opposition and terrorism, pointing to the attacks and comments from a leader of the Southern Front, another rebel coalition.

President Bashar Assad’s government will “never accept” the removal of two militant groups from a list of terrorist organizations barred from peace talks, a Syrian official said, while an opposition figure called on the worldwide community on Sunday to stop Russia’s “crimes in Syria”.

Representatives of Syrian Kurds fighting against the Syrian government said they were not invited to join the Geneva meetings, and will not be part of the peace talks.

Syrian army soldiers, backed by fighters from allied popular defense groups, have recently liberated several areas from the grips of Daesh and other terrorist groups operating in the Arab country.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility for the attack.

De Mistura’s office said Sunday that further separate talks would be held on Monday with the opposition and government delegations.