At least 71 people were killed in three bombings claimed by the Islamic State (ISIS, ISIL , IS and Daesh) terror group near the Shia Sayyida Zeinab shrine south of the Syrian capital Damascus, AFP reported.

Syrian State news agency SANA said 100 others were wounded in a car bomb attack and two suicide bombings on Sunday, citing an interior ministry source.

Reuters reported 60 dead, including 25 Government forces.

The Sayyida Zeinab mosque contains the grave of a granddaughter of the Prophet Muhammad and is particularly revered as a pilgrimage site by Shia Muslims.

It has been targeted before, including in February 2015, when two suicide attacks killed four people and wounded 13 at a checkpoint near the shrine.

Also that month, a blast ripped through a bus carrying Lebanese Shia pilgrims headed to Sayyida Zeinab, killing at least nine people, in an attack claimed by al-Qaeda affiliate, the al-Nusra Front.

The ISIS group claimed it carried out the attack on Sunday. In a statement the group said two of its fighters had detonated suicide bombs near the shrine.

"Two soldiers of the caliphate carried out … operations in …. in the Sayyida Zeinab area, killing nearly 50 and injuring around 120," the group said.

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