BEIRUT — A suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden car Saturday in Syria’s central city of Homs, tearing through an area largely populated by the regime’s Alawite sect and killing seven people, a state-owned TV station reported.
Meanwhile, government troops took control of the key village of Buwaydah as the regime presses its offensive to clear a path between Damascus and the Mediterranean coast.
Abu Bilal al-Homsi, an activist in Homs linked to several rebel groups, said via Skype that rebels sustained heavy losses late Friday as they attempted to flee the village with their wounded and civilians. Al-Homsi asked to be identified by his alias because of security concerns.
State-owned Al-Ikhbariya TV said the attacker detonated the explosives-laden car in a busy area near a roundabout in the Homs neighborhood of Adawiya, which largely houses Alawites, members of a minority sect that is an offshoot of Shiite Islam. The report said the seven killed included three women and a teenager, and said 10 other people were wounded as the blast heavily damaged nearby houses and vehicles.
TV footage showed frantic residents running around, blood splattered on the ground and a badly mangled car. Other cars on the street were also damaged. A reporter from the station on the scene said the car was carrying about 220 pounds of explosives.
Nobody claimed responsibility for the attack, but car bombs are the usual tactic employed by Sunni extremists among the rebel ranks.
