A bomb killed at least six people yesterday near a revered Shiite shrine in a suburb of Damascus, the Syrian capital, according to state media and opposition activists.
Official media said that 13 people were wounded in the explosion in the Sayeda Zainab district.
The semi-official TV station said the bomb was placed in a garbage bag. It reported that another bomb in the vicinity was defused.
“The explosion occurred just east of the shrine. Lots of people are also wounded,” said one of the activists, who declined to be named.
“Security personnel have swarmed the area. It is not clear whether the target was the shrine or a security compound adjacent to it,” he added. Groups opposed to President Bashar al-Assad reported that seven people died in the blast.
The poor neighborhood, inhabited by Sunni and Shiite Muslims alike, is marked by the colored-tile and mirror shrine, located near several security compounds, as well as an office for Muqtada al-Sadr, the radical Iraqi Shi’ite cleric.
As the 19-month revolt against Assad turns bloodier, sectarian tension has increased between members of the country’s Sunni majority and Assad’s Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shia Islam that has dominated the country since the 1960s.