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Syria conflict: Homs car bombings kill 46, says monitor | Syria conflict: Homs car bombings kill 46, says monitor |
(about 1 hour later) | |
At least 46 people have been killed in a double car bombing in the Syrian city of Homs, a monitoring group has said. | At least 46 people have been killed in a double car bombing in the Syrian city of Homs, a monitoring group has said. |
Most of the dead appear to be civilians, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. | Most of the dead appear to be civilians, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. |
It is not yet clear who was behind the bombing but the so-called Islamic State (IS) has targeted the area in the past. | |
Meanwhile US Secretary of State John Kerry has said a "provisional agreement" has been reached with Russia on a partial truce in the conflict. | |
After speaking to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, Mr Kerry said the world was "closer to a ceasefire today than we have been". | |
Earlier this month, world powers involved in Syria agreed to seek a "cessation of hostilities" but the Friday deadline has come and gone. | |
Mr Kerry said on Sunday he and Mr Lavrov had agreed the terms of the cessation but stressed that details still needed to be resolved. | |
Homs carnage | |
The attacks in Homs happened in a predominantly Alawite district, the minority sect to which President Assad belongs. | |
The Observatory warned that with a large number of people injured, the death toll was likely to rise. | The Observatory warned that with a large number of people injured, the death toll was likely to rise. |
Syrian state television gave a toll of at least 25 dead. | |
Homs, one of the early centres of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, was once dubbed the "capital of the revolution". | |
But rebels left the city late last year under a ceasefire deal, leaving the city in government hands. | |
The latest violence comes as President Assad says he hopes to be remembered as the man who "saved" Syria. | |
Asked by Spanish newspaper El Pais where he would see himself in 10 years' time, he said: "If Syria is safe and sound, and I'm the one who saved his country - that's my job now, that's my duty." | |
Mr Assad also said his army was close to encircling rebel-held parts of the key northern city of Aleppo, and were advancing on Raqqa, Islamic State's main stronghold. | |
He said he was ready to implement a temporary truce as long as there were guarantees what he called "terrorists" would not use it to improve their positions. |