11 people killed, 45 injured in multiple blasts

At least four explosions hit government-held parts of Syria on Monday morning, in the cities of Tartous and Homs and along a road outside Damascus, state media and a monitor said.

Two simultaneous blasts hit the Arzouna bridge area at the entrance to the northwestern coastal city of Tartous, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and state news agency SANA said.

Those explosions killed at least 11 people and wounded 45, a source in the Tartous police told SANA.

Syrian state television said the first explosion was a car bomb and the second was a suicide belt detonated as rescue workers came to the scene of the first incident.

A car bomb struck the city of Homs at the entrance to the Bab Tadmur neighbourhood, SANA said.

Homs' health director told SANA that hospitals in his directorate had received two bodies and seven injured people.

The Observatory said the Homs explosion hit an army checkpoint and two officers were killed.

There was also an explosion near the town of al Saboura, along a road which leads onto the Beirut-Damascus highway, according to a police commander quoted on state television.