Car bomb near hospital in central Syria kills at least 16
BEIRUT - A car bomb exploded Saturday in a government-held neighborhood in the central Syrian city of Homs, killing at least 16 people and wounding dozens, state media and an opposition monitoring group said.
State news agency SANA said the blast wounded more than 100 people while the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said dozens were hurt.
The Observatory said an army colonel, a policeman and woman were among the 16 killed in Homs. Homs Governor Talal Barazzi said most of the 16 dead were women and children, adding that 15 of the wounded were treated at hospitals and released.
SANA and the Observatory said the blast occurred near a hospital in the Zahra neighborhood. SANA added the car that exploded was rigged with some 150 kilograms (330 pounds) of TNT and that shortly after the blast, a gas cylinder blew up in one of the nearby shops and wounded several policemen.
