DAMASCUS: A car bomb exploded on Wednesday in the central Syrian city of Homs, killing at least six people in a neighbourhood frequently targeted by rebels because it is seen as a home of loyalists of the President Bashar Assad.

The rigged vehicle exploded among residential buildings and shops in the Akrama neighbourhood.

The explosion killed mostly women and children, Homs Governor Talal Barrazi said. Barrazi said the blast killed at least six people and wounded 30.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the blast killed 10 people, basing its figure from a network of activists on the ground.

Conflicting death tolls are routine after such attacks. It was the third car bomb to target the street over the past year, Barrazi said.

A twin suicide car bombing outside schools there in October that killed at least 32 people, including at least 10 children. Wednesday’s bombing came a week after Syrian rebels and government forces began observing a 10-day truce in the last rebel-held area of Homs.

Assad loyalists have been blockading the Waer neighborhood for some 20 months, only sporadically allowing in food. Barrazi said the truce would continue. Syria’s uprising and civil war has killed more than 220,000 people since it began in March 2011.

Published in Dawn January 22nd , 2015

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