Naharnet

Car Bomb Explodes in Central Syrian City of Homs

Syrian media and opposition activists said Saturday that a car bomb exploded in the central city of Homs, causing casualties.

The Syrian state-owned Al-Ikhbariya TV said the blast in the city's southern al-Nozah neighborhood was a suicide bomb. It reported casualties but did not give a number.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of informants inside Syria, said the car was booby-trapped.

It said seven people died, according to preliminary reports.

It was not immediately possible to reconcile the different accounts.

Activists said the al-Nozah district is populated largely by Alawites, members of the offshoot Shiite sect to which Syria's President Bashar Assad belongs.

Government troops are on an offensive against rebels near Homs, seizing a strategic town south of the city this week.

Source: Associated Press


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