At least 22 killed in Homs army checkpoint blast: governor

PanARMENIAN.Net - At least 22 people were killed in a double suicide bomb attack at an army checkpoint in the central Syrian city of Homs on Tuesday, January 26, state media said, according to AFP.

In a breaking news alert, state television said 100 people had also been injured in the blasts in the Al-Zahraa neighbourhood of the city, which has been targeted in bomb attacks multiple times before.

The provincial governor of Homs, Talal Barazi, told AFP at least 19 people had been killed in the attacks.

He said the two bombers appeared to have pulled up at the army checkpoint in a car together, with one exiting the vehicle before the other detonated his explosives while still inside.

In the chaos of the first blast's aftermath, and as a crowd gathered, the second bomber detonated his explosives, Barazi said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, also reported the blasts, saying at least 21 people had been killed, among them 13 regime forces.

The group's director Rami Abdel Rahman said the second suicide bomber had been wearing military clothes.

The Al-Zahraa district of Homs has been targeted in multiple bomb attacks in the past, including in late December, when 19 people were killed in several simultaneous blasts.

The residents of Al-Zahraa are mostly Alawites, the minority sect of Syria's ruling clan, and the Islamic State group has in the past claimed attacks on the district.