At least 50 killed in blasts near Shia shrine in Syria

PanARMENIAN.Net - At least 50 people died Sunday, Jan 31, in blasts near the Shia shrine of Sayyida Zeinab, south of Syria's capital Damascus, BBC News reports.

A bus station and a building housing military headquarters were hit by the blasts, which mangled nearby vehicles. It happened as the government and opposition groups gathered in Geneva in a bid to start talks aimed at a political solution to the conflict.

The attack, claimed by the Islamic State group, was aimed at disrupting the talks, the EU said.

Both the Syrian government and opposition are in Geneva but the talks have yet to begin. The main opposition group says the government must first meet key humanitarian demands.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged both sides to seize the opportunity to end the bloodshed.Kerry said there was "no military solution" to the spiraling crisis, which he warned could engulf the region if the tentative UN-sponsored negotiations fail as previous attempts have.

The UN envoy to Syria has scheduled separate discussions with both sides in Geneva on Monday.

Sunday's attacks near Sayyida Zeinab were carried out by two suicide bombers, but some witnesses spoke of three blasts.

TV footage showed burning buildings and destroyed vehicles. Scores of people were reported wounded.

The blasts took place several hundred meters from the golden-domed shrine, which was not itself damaged - although it has been previously targeted, most recently in February last year. It contains the grave of one of the Prophet Muhammad's grand-daughters and continues to draw many Shia pilgrims, despite the civil war.

The bombings were "clearly aimed to disrupt the attempts to start a political process" in Geneva, said EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini.