Syria: Explosions wave continue with a Bus bombing in Homs, five dead

Syria: Explosions wave continue with a Bus bombing in Homs, five dead
A damaged bus is pictured after a bomb blast in the regime-held city of Homs, in this handout picture provided by SANA on March 29, 2017, Syria. SANA/Handout via REUTERS

A new incident was added to the wave of explosions in Syria, with a bomb blast that hit a passenger bus in the regime-held city of Homs on Wednesday, killing five people and wounding six, the Syrian state news agency SANA reported.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based war monitor, also said that at least five people were killed in the attack.

SANA’s correspondent in Homs said the bombing, which it said was carried out by terrorists, targeted a small passenger bus which was in a street in al-Zahra neighborhood.

The agency quoted the Homs health director as saying the bombing killed 5 people and wounded 6.

Regime-held cities have been hit by a series of bombings in recent weeks, including in Homs and Damascus.

Scores of people were killed in suicide attacks in the capital Damascus earlier this month, including twin bombings on March 15 at a central courthouse and a restaurant, and a blast days earlier that targeted Iraq Shiite visitors.

A damaged bus is pictured after a bomb blast
A damaged bus is pictured after a bomb blast

Previous attacks in Homs

In Homs, a twin attack targeted intelligent branches in February and included blasts and shooting killed dozens of people in February including a senior security official.

The attacks began with clashes near a branch of military security in al-Mahatta district and a branch of state security in al-Ghouta district before suicide bombers struck in both locations, state media reported.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said on Saturday that loud explosions and gunfire were heard following the assault in Homs.

Bombers engaged in prolonged gun battles with intelligence officers before detonating their explosive vests.

The head of military security, General Hassan Daaboul, was killed along with 29 others in al-Mahatta, while another 12 people were killed in al-Ghouta, the Observatory said. State media gave a lower figure of 32 people killed.

A witness was quoted as saying a suicide bomber actually made it into Daaboul’s office and detonated the explosives.

The attacks hit the heavily guarded Ghouta and Mahatta neighborhoods and security forces locked down the city center.

The both branches attacked are well-known as detention centers for Syrians who are accused of opposing the regime. Thousands of cases of inhuman detention, torture to death and executions were reported by activist and Syrians in these two branches.

The insurgent alliance known as Tahrir al-Sham declared that it was behind this attack.

Homs has been under the full control of the government since May 2014 when rebels withdrew from the city center under a UN-brokered truce.

But the city has seen repeated bombings since then. A double bombing killed 64 people early last year.

Analysts have predicted that as revolutionaries and militants fighting Assad regime suffered military reverses after Russian intervention, they will increasingly turn to guerrilla-style attacks in territory controlled by the regime.

The Syrian crisis began as a peaceful demonstration against the injustice in Syria. Assad regime used to fire power and violence against the civilians and led to armed resistance. 450.000 Syrians lost their lives in the past five years according to UN estimates, and more than 12 million have lost their homes.