At least 11 die as bombs explode in Syria

14 Jun 2012, 6:13 pm   -   Source: AAP

A prominent Syrian rebel has died in a clash with government forces as at least 10 other people die in bombs and fighting.

Nine civilians, two rebels and an unknown number of government troops have been killed in violence across Syria.

Incidents on Thursday morning included two car bombs, monitors reported.

A car bomb in Idlib city targeted a military checkpoint, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, adding that a number of soldiers were killed or wounded in the blast.

No further details were immediately available.

In Damascus, a car bomb exploded in a suburb that houses a popular Shi'ite shrine, wounding two people, Syrian state media reported.

State news agency SANA said the booby-trapped vehicle was parked in a garage. It gave an initial toll of two people wounded.

The observatory said clashes between troops and rebels erupted early in the morning in the central city of Homs, where three civilians and a rebel fighter were killed.

It added that Ahmed Bahbouh, the head of the rebel military office in Rastan and a leading dissident figure, was killed in clashes with government forces.

A civilian was killed in crossfire as rebels and troops clashed at the entrances of a rebel-held town which the regime has been trying to overrun for months.

In the southern city of Daraa five people were killed before dawn, including four in the neighbourhood of Tareek Al-Sad, which was heavily shelled by regime troops, the observatory said.

"Government forces have surrounded the neighbourhood of Tareek Al-Sad in preparation to storm the area," it said.

At least 77 people were killed across Syria on Wednesday, including 49 civilians, 21 soldiers and seven rebels, the observatory said.

The escalation in violence follows an assessment by UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous on Tuesday that Syria was in a full-scale civil war, with regime forces having lost control of "large chunks of territory".

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