Suicide Bombings Kill at Least 45 Near Damascus

GENEVA — A double suicide bombing killed at least 45 people and wounded dozens more near a Shiite shrine south of Damascus, the Syrian capital, state television reported Sunday.

The Sayeda Zeinab shrine, in what was once a busy market area, has been a major symbol and rallying center for Shiite militia recruits from Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan fighting in Syria on the side of the government.

Social media accounts associated with the Islamic State said the extremist group had taken responsibility for the blast. The area has become a foothold for Hezbollah and other Shiite militias assisting the government in fighting insurgents in the Damascus suburbs, but it also houses civilians displaced from Shiite towns in northern Syria.

The attack came as Syrian government representatives and members of the opposition were gathered in Geneva before the planned — but repeatedly postponed — peace talks aimed at finding a political solution to the nearly five-year conflict.

For the first time on Sunday, the United Nations mediator Staffan de Mistura met briefly with the main opposition bloc. No details were immediately available on the discussion but the opposition was expected to press for progress on relieving human suffering in Syria before entering into formal talks.

Members of the opposition said Saturday night that they would not sit down with the government or engage in any formal negotiations until sieges were lifted and bombardment of civilians stopped — measures mandated by specific United Nations resolutions on Syria as well as by international law.

In Syria, humanitarian officials continued to press for access to besieged areas, especially the town of Madaya, which is surrounded by progovernment forces and has dozens of people in need of hospitalization and medical care due to severe malnutrition, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross and other aid groups.

The Geneva talks, the first in two years, come after a United Nations Security Council resolution laid out a road map aimed at ending the conflict.