GLOBAL ECONOMY

Activists: Car bomb kills 6 in Syrian capital

Associated Press
Published | Updated

This image released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows Syrian citizens gathering at the scene where a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-packed vehicle at a military checkpoint at the entrance to the Sayyida Zeinab suburb, Damascus, Monday, April 25, 2016. A bomb blast in a Damascus suburb that is home to one of the holiest Shiite shrines in Syria killed eight people on Monday, according to a pro-government TV station and an activist-run monitoring group. (SANA via AP) (The Associated Press)

This image released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows the scene after a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-packed vehicle at a military checkpoint at the entrance to the Sayyida Zeinab suburb, Damascus, Monday, April 25, 2016. A bomb blast in a Damascus suburb that is home to one of the holiest Shiite shrines in Syria killed several people on Monday, according to a pro-government TV station and an activist-run monitoring group. (SANA via AP) (The Associated Press)

This image released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows Syrian citizens gather at the scene where a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-packed vehicle at a military checkpoint at the entrance to the Sayyida Zeinab suburb, Damascus, Monday, April 25, 2016. A bomb blast in a Damascus suburb that is home to one of the holiest Shiite shrines in Syria killed eight people on Monday, according to a pro-government TV station and an activist-run monitoring group. (SANA via AP) (The Associated Press)

An activist-run monitoring group says a car bomb has exploded in a suburb of Damascus that his home to one of the holiest Shiite shrines in Syria, killing six people.

Syrian state TV confirmed the car bomb attack in the government-held Sayyida Zeinab district, but did not provide details on casualties.

Shiite fighters from Lebanon, Iraq and Iran who have flocked to Syria to fight alongside President Bashar Assad's forces often say they are there to defend the Sayyida Zeinab shrine. The shrine is heavily guarded.

A previous blast in the suburb, claimed by the Islamic State group, killed some 130 people in February.