Foreign Ministry: 40 Iraqis killed in twin bombing in Damascus
People inspect the damage at the site of an attack by two suicide bombers in Damascus, Syria March 11, 2017. REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki
The ministry said it was following up with authorities in Damascus on developments after the bombings targeted pilgrims buses at Bab al-Saghir region.
The U.K-based Syrian observatory for human rights said the attack was carried out by both a roadside bomb and a suicide bomber.
Bab al-Saghir is located near the Old City of Damascus.
The attack comes a few days after the Shia-dominated Iraqi government said it would fight Islamic State militants in Syria after it drives them out of Iraq.
“I respect the sovereignty of states, and I have secured the approval of Syria to strike positions (on its territory),” Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said during a conference in the Iraqi Kurdish city of Sulaimaniyah last Wednesday. “I will not hesitate to strike the positions of the terrorists in the neighboring countries, we will keep on fighting them,” Abadi was quoted by Reuters as saying.
Abadi’s announcement came after past reiterations that he had not given permission to any Iraqi Shia militia reported to be fighting IS in Syria on Assad’s side.
The Alawite-led Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad has been in a bloody war against Islamic State Sunni extremists and breakaway troops since 2011.