Car bomb kills one, injures 14 in Syria

A car bomb detonated in the government-held Syrian city of Latakia on Tuesday, killing one person and wounding 14, Syrian state media reported.

Footage carried on the state-run al-Ikhbariya news channel showed a large group of people milling around in a street while wreckage smouldered on the ground, Reuters reports.

Though President Bashar al-Assad has regained control over more than half of Syria, attackers have periodically continued to strike in cities he controls with suicide blasts and car bombs.

State news agency SANA cited the head of the Latakia health department as saying a “terrorist explosion” had killed one civilian and wounded 14.

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SANA earlier said the person killed was the driver of the vehicle, a Suzuki minivan, that blew up in the Sahat al-Hamam district.

It reported that the authorities had dismantled another explosive device in the same location before the blast.

Latakia, located on the Mediterranean coast, has stayed in government hands throughout Syria’s eight years of civil war, avoiding the fighting that caused massive damage and casualties in most other major cities.