տուն Uncategorized Syria conflict: Dozens die in explosions in Homs

Syria conflict: Dozens die in explosions in Homs

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At least 37 people have been killed in explosions in the Syrian city of Homs, officials say.

The attacks, which involved at least one car bomb, also injured dozens.

Earlier, at least 14 people were killed and more than 80 wounded in a mortar attack on a technical institute in central Damascus.

The attacks come a day after President Bashar al-Assad registered to stand for re-election, defying calls to step down as a way of ending Syria’s civil war.

There are conflicting details about the number of deaths in the government-held, predominantly Alawite neighbourhood of Zahra, located to the east of the Old City in Homs.

A Syrian government official said at least 37 people were killed and 85 hurt. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights gave the same death toll figures, with 80 injured.

Agence France-Presse news agency quoted the provincial governor as saying 45 had died in total. Thirty-six were killed by the car bomb in Zahra while nine were killed by a rocket that followed, Talal al-Barazi said.

“The rocket fell about half an hour after the bombing on the same area, where there was a crowd of people” trying to help those injured in the blast, he added.

Homs has been a key battleground between government forces and rebels, with large parts of the city in ruins, BBC informs.