Car bomb rocks Syria’s Homs, at least seven dead

A car bomb attack has rocked Syria’s third-largest city of Homs, leaving at least seven people dead and 30 others injured.

According to provincial governor, Talal Barazi, who condemned the bombing as a “cowardly terrorist act,” the attack was carried out on a shopping street in the Akrameh neighborhood on Wednesday.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, but such attacks have been frequently committed by al-Qaeda-linked Takfiri groups that are fighting against the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

Akrameh has so far seen multiple attacks, as well as mortar fire, as its population is mostly made up of Alawites, the sect to which President Assad belongs.

Last October, 54 people, including 47 children, were killed when a twin car bomb attack occurred in front of a school in the neighborhood.

Syria has been grappling with a deadly crisis since March 2011. Western powers and their regional allies – especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey – are reportedly the main supporters of the militants operating inside Syria.

More than 200,000 people have died so far in the conflict in Syria, according to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Zeid al-Hussein.