At least six people were killed and dozens were wounded today in the explosion of a device placed in a taxi and activated in the suburbs of Damascus near a Shiite shrine, Syrian state media reported, citing the Ministry of Interior.
The explosion happened the day before the holy Muslim holiday of Ashura.
State-run Al-Ikhbariya television and the state-run news agency reported that the Syrian health minister also reported that 26 people were wounded in the explosion in the Sayida Zeinab neighborhood and were taken to several hospitals. Another twenty wounded were treated at the site of the explosion or sent home, he said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that a woman and her three children were among the dead. The Observatory said the blast occurred near a position of Iranian militia, a key ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad alongside Russia in the Syrian conflict, now in its 13th year.
The neighborhood where the explosion took place is named after the shrine of Sayyid Zeinab, the granddaughter of the Prophet Muhammad.
Ashura is one of the most important days in the Shiite religious calendar, commemorating the martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson, Hussein, in the seventh century.
This is the second explosion in the neighborhood in the days leading up to the Ashura holiday. On Tuesday, Syrian state media reported that two civilians were wounded when a motorcycle with explosives detonated.
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