Twin bombings kill 50, injure tens in western Syria

Security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said two vehicles laden with explosives went off within less than a minute of each other at a traffic light at al-Siteen Street in al-Zahraa district of the city, located 162 kilometers (101 miles) north of the capital, Damascus, on Sunday morning.

A report by the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the toll could rise further because of the high number of people seriously wounded in the attacks.

No group has claimed responsibility for the act of violence so far, but such terrorist attacks are usually carried out by the Takfiri militant groups active in the area.

In a similar incident last December, more than 30 people were killed and 90 others wounded in two bomb explosions that rocked al-Zahraa neighborhood of Homs.

The December attack came after foreign-backed militants began evacuating the last district they were controlling in the city under a deal with Damascus.

The new fatal bombings come in the wake of significant army gains against Takfiri terror groups on several fronts, particularly the northwestern province of Aleppo near the Turkish border.

The foreign-sponsored conflict in Syria, which flared in March 2011, has claimed the lives of some 470,000 people and left 1.9 million injured, according to the Syrian Center for Policy Research.

Moreover, 6.36 million people have been displaced internally and more than four million others have fled the country since the beginning of the conflict. That accounts for 45 percent of the country’s population, which has shrunk by 21 percent.

Syria accuses Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar of funding and arming terrorist groups operating inside the country, including Daesh.