BEIRUT (AP) — An al-Qaida-linked group claimed responsibility Sunday for twin blasts near holy shrines frequented by Shiites in the Syrian capital Damascus that killed at least 40 people as a suspected airstrike by the U.S.-led coalition killed at least 17 in northern Syria, activists said. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 76 people, including 43 Iraqi pilgrims, were killed when a roadside bomb detonated as a bus made its way through the Ban al-Saghir area of Damascus' famed Old City, and then a suicide bomber blew himself up. Late on Saturday, two fighters from the Nusra Front, al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria, were killed in the easterly Hasaka province during fighting around the town of Markadah with an al Qaeda splinter group, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, the Observatory said.
Tahrir al-Sham, al-Qaeda's branch in Syria, claims responsibility for yesterday's twin bomb attacks in Damascus which left dozens dead.