Three explosions near a shrine revered by Shiite Muslims in Damascus have killed at least 45 people, according to reports from Syrian media and human rights monitors.
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Two suicide bombers then detonated explosive belts when people gathered at the scene.
It is developing story, will be updated accordingly.
“The attack near the Sayeda Zeinab shrine is clearly aimed to disrupt the attempts to start a political process”, Federica Mogherini said in a statement.
The area around the shrine is heavily secured with regime checkpoints set up hundreds of metres (yards) away to prevent vehicles from approaching.
Since mid-summer 2012, the district has been under frequent attacks and shelling by the ultra-radical rebels, who aim to attack the Shiite people due to their supportive stance towards the Syrian government and their religious background of the Shiite-Sunni conflict.
Residents and soldiers loyal to Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad inspect damage after a suicide attack in Sayeda Zeinab, a district of southern Damascus, Syria January 31, 2016.
It continues to draw many Shia pilgrims and is protected by members of the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah group.
According to the Observatory, members of Lebanon’s powerful Shiah group Hezbollah are among those deployed at the checkpoints. Early on, the group justified its intervention in Syria by citing the threat to Sayyida Zeinab.
Ahrar al-Sham and the Army of Islam, two Islamic groups fighting to overthrow Assad, agreed to take part in U.N.-sponsored peace talks in Geneva.
The Syrian government’s delegation head 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.
The UN envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura has, however, “optimistic and determined” to move forward in the path of negotiations.
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HNC spokesman Salem al-Mislet told The Associated Press that the violence against civilians must stop first, saying the U.N. Security Council should put “pressure on Russian Federation to stop these crimes in Syria”, he said.
