At least 14 killed in bomb blasts

At least 14 people were killed and dozens wounded in large bomb blasts Monday in the central Syrian city of Homs, state media reported.

“The preliminary toll in simultaneous terrorist explosions that hit the city’s Al-Zahraa neighbourhood is 14 dead and 132 wounded,” state television reported in a news flash.

It said two explosions caused by car bombs and a blast caused by a suicide attacker wearing an explosives-laden belt hit Al-Zahraa’s main square.

The residents of Al-Zahraa are mostly Alawites, the minority sect of Syria’s ruling clan.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group confirmed the blasts and reported at least 32 dead.

The attack came less than three weeks after the Islamic State jihadist group claimed explosions in the same neighbourhood that left 16 people dead.

IS has seized large parts of Homs province, including the historic city of Palmyra.

More than 250,000 people have been killed in Syria’s war, which began in 2011 with anti-government protests but spiralled into a bloody conflict.

Homs city, once dubbed “the capital of the revolution”, came under full government control earlier this month after a ceasefire deal with rebels.