At least six people were killed and more than 20 others were wounded when a motorcycle on Thursday exploded next to a taxi car near the Sayeda Zainab mausoleum, Syria’s most visited Shiite pilgrimage site, on the eve of Ashura, reported state media at the time.
The mausoleum has been the site of several deadly explosions since the start of the Syrian civil war over 12 years ago.
ISIS said on Telegram messaging app late Friday its members carried out the attack, claiming that 10 people were killed and about 40 others were wounded.
It also claimed responsibility for another attack in the same area on Tuesday which the state media and the terror group say wounded two people.
Ashura is the tenth day of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic year. It commemorates the death of Imam Hussein, a Shiite leader and the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, who was killed in a battle fought at Karbala in 680 AD. The pilgrimage and rituals go on for forty days with the day of Ashura the most crowded.
