This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/31/damascus-syrian-double-suicide-bombing-sayeda-zeinab

The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Dozens killed after double suicide bombing in Damascus Dozens killed after suicide bombing at Shia shrine in Damascus
(about 4 hours later)
At least 30 people have been killed and scores wounded when two suicide bombers blew themselves up in the Sayeda Zeinab district of Damascus, where Syria’s holiest Shia shrine is located, the interior ministry said. Islamic State bombers have killed more than 60 people near Syria’s holiest Shia shrine in Damascus as the country’s main opposition group met the UN mediator, Staffan de Mistura, for the first time.
State television showed footage of burning buildings and wrecked cars in the neighbourhood on Sunday. It gave no further details. The heavily populated area in the south of the city is a site of pilgrimage for Shias from Iran, Lebanon and other parts of the Muslim world. Representatives of the Saudi-backed Higher Negotiation Committee (HNC) – which includes political and militant opponents of President Bashar al-Assad – warned they may yet walk away from the Geneva talks unless the suffering of civilians in the five-year conflict was eased.
The head of the Syrian government delegation said that the blasts in Damascus, which the interior ministry blamed on a car bomb and two suicide bombers, merely confirmed the opposition’s terrorist links – even though Isis has been excluded from the talks.
The United Nations is aiming for six months of negotiations, with an initial ceasefire working toward a political settlement to the civil war that has killed more than 250,000 people, driven over 10 million from their homes and drawn in global powers.
Only on Friday, the HNC said it would boycott the process, insisting it wanted an end to airstrikes and sieges of Syrian towns before joining the negotiations. This forced de Mistura – who invited the government and opposition umbrella group for “proximity talks” in which he would meet each side in separate rooms – to set the ball rolling with only the Damascus delegation.
Under intense pressure, notably from the US, the HNC later relented and arrived in Geneva on Saturday. However, the group questioned how long the delegation would stay.
“In view of the [Syrian] regime and its allies’ insistence in violating the rights of the Syrian people, the presence of the HNC delegation in Geneva would not have any justification and the HNC could pull its negotiating team out,” the group’s coordinator, Riad Hijab, said in an online statement.
The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, described the talks – the first in two years – as long overdue. “I urge all parties to put the people of Syria at the heart of their discussions, and above partisan interests,” he said on a visit to Ethiopia.
Opposition delegate Bassma Kodmani denied her side was ready to negotiate. “We only came to Geneva after receiving assurances and commitments and we have precise commitments on the fact there would be serious progress on the humanitarian situation,” she told a news conference. “We can’t start political negotiations until we have those gestures.”
The head of the Syrian government’s delegation in Geneva, Bashar al-Jaafari, said the government was considering moves such as the creation of humanitarian corridors, ceasefires and prisoner releases, but suggested they might come about as a result of the talks, not before them.
“Absolutely, this is part of the agenda that we agreed upon and that will be one of the very important topics we will discuss among ourselves as Syrian citizens,” Jaafari said.
Russian airstrikes have killed nearly 1,400 civilians since Moscow started its aerial campaign in support of Assad nearly four months ago, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, said on Saturday.
Kodmani said the bombings had increased in the past week. “In preparations for the negotiations everything has intensified. The sieges have become total,” she added.
Isis claimed responsibility for Sunday’s attacks in the Sayeda Zeinab district of Damascus, according to Amaq, a news agency that supports the militant group. It said two operations “hit the most important stronghold of Shia militias in Damascus”.
The UK-based Observatory put the death toll at over 60, including 25 Shia fighters.
Earlier, the interior ministry had reported at least 45 dead and 110 people wounded, while state television showed footage of burning buildings and wrecked cars in the neighbourhood.
The heavily populated area of southern Damascus is a site of pilgrimage for Shia from Iran, Lebanon and other parts of the Muslim world.
Related: UK welcomes Syrian opposition decision to join peace talksRelated: UK welcomes Syrian opposition decision to join peace talks
The explosions occurred as representatives of Syria’s government and its divided opposition began convening in Geneva for the first UN-mediated peace talks in two years. The shrine houses the grave of the daughter of Ali ibn Abi Talib, whom Shia consider the rightful successor to the prophet Mohammad. The dispute over the succession led to the major Sunni-Shia schism in Islam.
The UN 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. Isis has been excluded from the talks as the UN has classified it a terrorist group. 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.
But the process looked highly uncertain on Sunday, with the main opposition group threatening to walk away before planned peace talks even begin in earnest. “This confirms what the Syrian government has said over and over again – that there is a link between terrorism and those who sponsor terrorism from one side and some political groups that pretend to be against terrorism,” he 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 Shia militias led by Hezbollah, which has set up protective roadblocks around it. He said the first way to help Syrians was to stop Turkey, Jordan and Saudi Arabia – which back the opposition – sending terrorists to the country.
The shrine houses the grave of the daughter of Ali ibn Abi Talib, the cousin of the prophet Muhammad whom Shia Muslims consider the rightful successor to the prophet. The dispute over the succession led to the major Sunni-Shia schism in Islam.
Many Iraqi and Iranian Shia 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.