Twin explosions in the Syrian city of Homs, controlled by the Syrian government, killed at least 15 civilians Saturday and injured 64 others.
The provincial governor Talal Barazzi said first a large car bomb exploded in the neighborhood of Al-Zahraa where mostly Alawite sect resides and thereafter followed by another blast to target those who would come to attend to victims of the first explosion.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad too belongs to the Alawite sect.
According to state news agency SANA, the parked vehicle was loaded with 150 kilograms of TNT and following its explosion a gas cylinder too blew up in a nearby shop injuring several policemen.
SANA also added the explosions have injured more than 100 people where as Britain based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights mentions dozens were hurt.
The blast was very terrifying and body parts could be seen on the ground. It also left a huge crater.
The Observatory added a woman, a policeman and also an army colonel have been among the sixteen dead.
Barazzi said most of the dead were women and children, and among the injured 15 people have been treated and released from hospitals.
The explosion came few days after rebels left Waer with their families as part of a local truce and it now is under the control of Syrian government.
Waer was the last opposition-held neighborhood of rebels and trucks were seen carrying aid on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Russian airstrikes have hit the town of Atareb that is held by the rebel. At least ten people have been killed in the attack.
Russia started its airstrike campaign against the Isis target in Syria on September 30 intending to weaken the Isis militant group as well as other terrorists in the country.
However, the Western officials and Syrian rebels said the Russian airstrikes were mostly on the central and northern part of the country that is not fully under the control of Isis.
The Syrian civil war kicked off in March 2011 and since then Russia has been one of the strongest supporters of Assad.
Until now the war has killed over 250,000 people in the country and has injured about a million others.
As the winter approaches more than 13.5 million people are looking for basic aid and protection. One statistic reveals four out of five families in the country live in poverty. Also, millions do not have access to shelter, clean water and enough food too.
Meanwhile, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said between December 12 and 14 the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O’Brien would be visiting the war torn country.
On Friday, 163 Syrian refugees reached Canada seeking a new life that the country has announced of supporting 25,000 refugees as a part of humanitarian initiative. This was the just the first batch of several to arrive.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has urged other countries too must opt similar programmes to help the Syrian refugees in resettlement.
