India today asked its citizens to avoid all non-essential travel to Syria after incidents of two Indians getting killed in a bomb explosion on the Syria-Iraq border came to light. The Ministry of External Affairs today said in a statement that a tragic incident reportedly involving death of two Indians on the Syria-Iraq border has come to the attention of the government.

Reports had it that a seven-year-old girl from Nagpur and a man from Pune were among those killed in an explosion on the Syria-Iraq border on Sunday evening.

The victims were among a group of Indian pilgrims travelling to the holy city of Karbala in central Iraq.