{"id":245957,"date":"2016-09-05T18:33:59","date_gmt":"2016-09-05T18:33:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=245957"},"modified":"2016-09-05T18:33:59","modified_gmt":"2016-09-05T18:33:59","slug":"syria-conflict-is-claims-wave-of-bombings-that-kills-dozens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2016\/09\/syria-conflict-is-claims-wave-of-bombings-that-kills-dozens\/","title":{"rendered":"Syria conflict: IS claims wave of bombings that kills dozens"},"content":{"rendered":"
At least 40 people have been killed in bombings in mainly government-held areas of Syria, state media report.<\/p>\n
Four attacks took place within an hour in Tartous, Homs and in a suburb of Damascus, with one in Hassakeh, which is dominated by Kurdish forces.<\/p>\n
The deadliest incident was outside Tartous, home to a Russian naval base and in the heartland of President Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite sect.
\nThe Islamic State (IS) group said it was behind the attacks.<\/p>\n
The group made the claim in a statement carried by its affiliated news agency, Amaq.<\/p>\n
‘Crowd targeted’<\/strong><\/p>\n The attacks took place between 08:00 and 09:00 (05:00-06:00 GMT) on Monday.<\/p>\n Syria’s official Sana news agency reported that 30 civilians had been killed and 45 others injured in the Tartous countryside. Then, as a crowd gathered at the scene to help the wounded, a suicide bomber detonated his explosive belt, the source added.<\/p>\n Tartous had been relatively unscathed by Syria’s five-year civil war until May, when a suicide bomb attack on a bus station by IS militants left dozens dead.<\/p>\n In the central city of Homs, four people were killed and 10 injured when a car bomb exploded at the entrance to the Bab Tadmour district, Sana reported.<\/p>\n The governor of Homs province said the car bomb targeted a military checkpoint and that the casualties were soldiers.<\/p>\n One person was killed in a bombing on a road in Saboura, a heavily-guarded western suburb of Damascus, a police source told Sana.<\/p>\n Opposition activist Yousef al-Boustani said the area was home to security officers and their families and that the attack represented a major security breach.<\/p>\n In Hassakeh, an explosives-packed motorcycle was blown up at the Marsho roundabout, killing five civilians and injuring two others, Sana said.<\/p>\n The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based group that monitors the conflict in Syria through a network of sources, said three of the dead were Kurdish security personnel, known as the Asayish.<\/p>\n The Kurdish Popular Protection Units (YPG) militia took near complete control of the north-eastern city last month after a week of clashes with government troops.<\/p>\n The Syrian Observatory put the total death toll for Monday’s attacks at 47.<\/p>\n The attacks came as US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin discussed a ceasefire deal for Syria on the sidelines of the G20 summit in China.<\/p>\n
\nFirst, a car bomb was detonated on the Arzoneh motorway bridge, a local police source told Sana.<\/p>\n