The Latest on the civil war in Syria (all times local): 7:30 p.m. Syrian state TV says the death toll from three blasts in a Shiite suburb of Damascus has reached 50, with more than 200 wounded. It says the bombings on Sunday targeted a vegetable market in the afternoon during rush hour. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for a triple blast in Sayyida Zeinab, saying two IS fighters set off a car bomb before detonating their explosive belts. Residents said the attack was about a kilometer (0.6 mile) from one of Shiite Islam’s holiest shrines and did not damage it. A triple explosion in Sayyida Zeinab killed 45 people last month.
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6 p.m.
The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for a triple blast in a Damascus suburb that killed at least 22 people.
The Aamaq news agency, which is affiliated with the group, said two IS fighters detonated a car bomb before blowing up their explosive belts in Sayyida Zeinab, a Shiite neighborhood.
Residents said the attack was about a kilometer (0.6 mile) from one of Shiite Islam’s holiest shrines and did not damage it.
Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV said the blasts killed 22 people, while the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 31 were killed and dozens wounded.
Different figures are not uncommon in the chaotic aftermath of such attacks.
A triple explosion in Sayyida Zeinab killed 45 people last month.
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5:30 p.m.
Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV says explosions in a suburb of the Syrian capital killed 22 people and wounded dozens.
Al-Manar said Sunday’s blasts were caused by a car bomb and two suicide attackers. Hezbollah is fighting alongside Syrian government forces and maintains a large presence in the Sayyida Zeinab area, where the blasts took place.
Syrian state TV showed still images of people running, damaged homes and billowing smoke. It provided no death toll. State TV earlier said two of the blasts were car bombs while the other two were suicide attackers on foot.
Sayyida Zeinab is home to one of Shiite Islam’s holiest shrines.
The blasts came hours after two explosions in the central city of Homs killed and wounded scores of people.
A triple explosion in Sayyida Zeinab killed 45 people last month.
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5 p.m.
Syrian state TV says four explosions went off in a predominantly Shiite suburb of the capital Damascus.
The TV had no immediate details but the pro-government Ad-Dunya TV station says the blasts on Sunday in Sayyida Zeinab killed and wounded a “large number” of people.
The Lebanon-based Al-Mayadeen TV says the blasts occurred near a Shiite hospital in the suburb just south of Damascus. Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV reports two blasts near al-Sadr hospital, saying they inflicted casualties.
Sayyida Zeinab is home to one of Shiite Islam’s holiest shrines.
The blasts came hours after two explosions in the central city of Homs killed and wounded scores of people.
A triple explosion in Sayyida Zeinab killed 45 people last month.
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10:25 a.m.
Syrian state TV says two blasts in the central city of Homs have killed 14 people and wounded 29.
The TV report said Sunday’s blasts struck in the pro-government neighborhood of Zahraa — a frequent target for similar explosions.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the first blast was caused by a vehicle rigged with explosives. It said it was not immediately clear if the second was caused by a car bomb or a suicide attacker wearing an explosive belt.
Homs, once dubbed the capital of the Syrian revolution, has been hit with a wave of explosions in recent months, killing and wounding scores of people.
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EARLIER ~
Twin car bomb blasts killed at least 57 people in Syria’s Homs on Sunday, a monitoring group said, in an attack claimed by Islamic State.
Footage from pro-Damascus television channels showed charred corpses buried by rubble, damage to shop fronts and debris littering a wide area. Plumes of smoke rose from burning cars and wounded people walked around dazed.
State television said at least 32 people had been killed.
Islamic State claimed responsibility for the two car bombs through Amaq, a news agency that supports the militant group.
A bomb attack claimed by Islamic State last month in Homs killed at least 24 people as government forces took back some Islamic State-held villages in Aleppo province in the north.
Sunday’s attacks also came a day after government advances against Islamic State.
A bomb attack killed 32 people in Homs in December after a ceasefire deal paved the way for the government to take over the last rebel-controlled area of the city, which was a center of the 2011 uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.
Violence rages on unabated across the country as world powers and the United Nations push to end the five-year-old conflict, meeting in Geneva to try to broker a ceasefire.
Peace talks were suspended almost immediately earlier this month as Syrian government forces and their allies, backed by Russian air strikes, intensified assaults against insurgents in Aleppo province.
The latest fighting in the north of the country has displaced tens of thousands of people, many of whom headed for the Turkish border. The exodus added to more than 11 million already displaced by the conflict, which has claimed 250,000 lives.
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