A suicide bomber blew up a vehicle near an important Shiite shrine in Syria's capital Damscus on Thursday, wounding 14 people, state media and witnesses said, as 35 people were reported killed across the country.

A photo released by the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency shows a youth inspecting the site of a car bomb in the Sayyida Zeinab suburb of Damascus. A suicide bomber has blown up a vehicle near a revered Shiite shrine in the Syrian capital, wounding 14 people and damaging the shrine, state media and witnesses said.

Official news agency SANA said the vehicle exploded in a garage 50 metres from Sayyida Zeinab shrine. There was "substantial damage in the area of the blast" and "the terrorist who carried out the operation was killed," it said.'

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, citing anti-regime activists, said the bomb went off near security offices, damaging the apparent target as well as the shrine, as seen in a video posted on the Internet.