At least eight people were killed in a twin bomb attack on a suburb of Damascus which is home to Syria's holiest Shia shrine, state media reported.
Some 13 other people were wounded in the blasts, which were caused by a suicide bomber and a car bomb.
The first blast, by an attacker wearing an explosives belt, took place at the entrance to the suburb while the car bomb attack happened on al-Teen street, not far from the shrine, Sana news agency said.
The golden-domed Sayyida Zeinab shrine contains the grave of one of Prophet Muhammad's grand-daughters, and continues to draw many Shia pilgrims despite the civil war.
The Lebanese Shia group Hezbollah has cited it as a key reason why it chose to fight on the side of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
But this has made this suburb a prime target for the government's enemies, including the IS, the BBC reported.
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More than 250,000 people have died and 11 million have fled their homes in more than five years of civil war in Syria.
--IANS
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