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Damascus bombing: 30 people killed by suicide bombers near Syria's holiest Shia shrine Isis kills dozens of people in triple suicide bomb attack near holiest Shia shrine in Syria
(about 5 hours later)
At least 30 people have been killed and scores wounded after two suicide bombers blew them themselves up in the Sayeda Zeinab district of Damascus, where Syria's holiest Shia shrine is located, the interior ministry said. Isis has claimed responsibility for a triple bomb attack near the most holy Shia mosque in Syria that has killed more than 60 people.
State television footage showed burning buildings and wrecked cars in the neighbourhood. It gave no further details. Suicide bombers detonated a series of explosives that ripped through the outskirts of Damascus on Sunday, the Interior Ministry reported.
The heavily populated area in the south of the city is a site of pilgrimage for Shia from Iran, Lebanon and other parts of the Muslim world. Hundreds are thought to have been injured near the mosque, which is situated in the Sayyida Zeinab area - a mainly Shia district in the south of the capital.
The explosions occurred as representatives of Syria's government and its divided opposition began convening in Geneva for the first U.N.-mediated peace talks in two years. The ministry initially reported 45 people were killed in the explosions, with scores more gravely wounded. 
The United Nations has said the aim would be six months of talks, first seeking a ceasefire and later working toward a political settlement to a war that has killed more than 250,000 people, driven more than 10 million from their homes and drawn in global powers. But local police added the death toll is set to rise: “Dozens were injured. Some of those injured are in a critical condition," a spokesperson said.
The Sayeda Zeinab shrine area witnessed heavy clashes in the first few years of the conflict, which began in 2011, but has since been secured by the Syrian army and Shi'ite militias led by Hezbollah, which has set up protective roadblocks around it. The attack could be an attempt to disrupt peace talks in Geneva, the European Union's foreign policy chief,Federica Mogherini, said. "The attack near the Sayeda Zeinab shrine is clearly aimed to disrupt the attempts to start a political process."
The shrine houses the grave of the daughter of Ali ibn Abi Taleb, the cousin of Prophet Mohammed whom Shi'ites consider the rightful successor to the prophet. The dispute over the succession led to the major Sunni-Shi'ite schism in Islam. She said it was encouraging that members of Syria's opposition and government were present in Geneva for negotiations.
Many Iraqi and Iranian Shi'ite militia groups who volunteer to fight Sunni Islamist radicals in Syria in a conflict that has heavy sectarian overtones say they are coming to Syria to defend the shrine. Eyewitnesses said on social media that at least 76 people had been killed, with women and children among the dead.
Reuters The coordinated attack saw a car bomb exploding near a passenger bus before twin suicide bombers detonated their vests. 
Photos from the scene show charred buildings and streets covered in rubble, littered with burnt out vehicles.
It is thought more people were injured in the second wave of blasts after rushing to help those caught up in the initial explosion. 
Additional reporting by Reuters