Bashar Jaafari

At least 60 people were killed, including 25 Shi'ite fighters, and dozens wounded on Sunday by a car bomb and two suicide bombers in a district of Damascus where Syria's holiest Shi'ite shrine is located, a monitor said.

The Syrian ambassador to the United Nations, Bashar Jaafari, will head the government team in peace talks due to open in Moscow on Monday, a pro-government newspaper reported.

Syria on Tuesday blamed delays in the destruction of its remaining chemical weapons production facilities on technical problems, including the delivery of explosives, and denied it was being uncooperative.

Syria's UN envoy said on Wednesday that dozens of Syrian soldiers inhaled poison gas in new incidents in his country and called on the United Nations to investigate.

At least 60 people were killed, including 25 Shi'ite fighters, and dozens wounded on Sunday by a car bomb and two suicide bombers in a district of Damascus where Syria's holiest Shi'ite shrine is located, a monitor said.

The Syrian ambassador to the United Nations, Bashar Jaafari, will head the government team in peace talks due to open in Moscow on Monday, a pro-government newspaper reported.

Syria on Tuesday blamed delays in the destruction of its remaining chemical weapons production facilities on technical problems, including the delivery of explosives, and denied it was being uncooperative.

Syria's UN envoy said on Wednesday that dozens of Syrian soldiers inhaled poison gas in new incidents in his country and called on the United Nations to investigate.