{"id":11337,"date":"2017-03-11T13:02:51","date_gmt":"2017-03-11T13:02:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/english\/syria-conflict-damascus-twin-bombing-kills-40-iraqis\/"},"modified":"2017-03-11T13:02:51","modified_gmt":"2017-03-11T13:02:51","slug":"syria-conflict-damascus-twin-bombing-kills-40-iraqis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/english\/syria-conflict-damascus-twin-bombing-kills-40-iraqis\/","title":{"rendered":"Syria conflict: Damascus twin bombing kills 40 Iraqis"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure>                                  <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Blood stains on the ground at the site of the attack\" src=\"http:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/320\/cpsprodpb\/12521\/production\/_95114057_038416921-1.jpg\"\/>Image copyright                  AP<figcaption>Image caption                                      Those targeted were pilgrims arriving at the site by bus                              <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"caps\">A twin bomb attack in Syria&#039;s capital, Damascus, has killed 40 Iraqis and wounded 120, Iraq&#039;s government says.<\/p>\n<p>The attack was near the Bab al-Saghir cemetery, which houses Shia mausoleums, with those targeted said to be pilgrims arriving by bus.<\/p>\n<p>Sunni militants often target Shias but attacks in the capital are uncommon.<\/p>\n<p>A nationwide truce brokered by Russia, Turkey and Iran took effect on 30 December after talks in Kazakhstan, but sporadic attacks continue.<\/p>\n<p>There have been two rounds of talks, with another planned next week.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Sunnis and Shia: Islam&#039;s ancient schism<\/li>\n<li>Returning to ruins of East Aleppo<\/li>\n<li>Turkey and Russia: Uneasy allies<\/li>\n<li>Why is there a war in Syria?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Damascus is mostly under the control of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but rebel groups are present in outlying districts of the city.<\/p>\n<p>It is not yet clear who was behind the latest attack, which Iraqi foreign ministry spokesman Ahmed Jamal called a &quot;criminal terrorist operation&quot;.<\/p>\n<p>Images showed blood stains on the ground near several damaged buses.<\/p>\n<p>The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a roadside bomb blew up as a bus passed and a suicide bomber also detonated explosives.<\/p>\n<p>A double suicide bombing in the Kafr Sousa district of the capital in January killed at least 10 people.<\/p>\n<p>Former al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat Fateh al-Sham said it was behind that attack.<\/p>\n<p>The group is excluded from the peace talks and its mainly north-western bases have been regularly targeted by the Syrian army and its Russian allies.<\/p>\n<p>So-called Islamic State is another Sunni extremist group that controls significant areas of Syria. Its Iraqi stronghold of Mosul is currently under attack from Iraqi government forces and their allies.<\/p>\n<p>More than 300,000 people have been killed and 11 million others displaced since the uprising against President Assad began in March 2011.<\/p>\n<p><a rel='nofollow' href=http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-middle-east-39242696 target=\"_blank\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Image copyright APImage caption Those targeted were pilgrims arriving at the site by bus A twin bomb attack in Syria&#039;s capital, Damascus, has killed 40 Iraqis and wounded 120, Iraq&#039;s<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11338,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}