4 Dead in Damascus Bombings near Sayyida Zeinab Shrine

Two simultaneous suicide attacks killed four people and wounded 13 on Monday in southern Damascus near a Shiite shrine, Syria's state news agency SANA reported.

The agency, quoting police, said the twin attack took place at a security checkpoint near the shrine of Sayyida Zeinab, a granddaughter of the Prophet Mohammed.

"A civilian car had stopped at the checkpoint... and a terrorist got out wearing an explosive vest which he detonated," SANA said, adding that seconds later a man who had remained in the car blew it up.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the bombing targeted a checkpoint manned by a pro-regime militia, just 10 kilometers (six miles) east of Damascus and on the road to the international airport.

On February 1, a blast ripped through a bus carrying Lebanese Shiite pilgrims in the city, killing at least nine people in an attack claimed by al-Qaida's Syrian branch.

At the time, the bus had been heading to Sayyida Zeinab which is controlled by the Syrian army and allied militias.

The Britain-based Observatory also reported that a rocket hit the Adra prison northeast of Damascus on Monday, killing four people and wounding 15.

It did not say if the casualties were prisoners, guards or visitors.