A series of bomb attacks has rocked the Syrian capital Damascus leaving several people dead and many others wounded, activists have said. At least 10 people reportedly died when several blasts struck an area populated mostly by members of President Bashar al-Assad's minority Alawite sect. Hours later, a car bomb exploded near a mosque in the largely Sunni Muslim district of al-Qadam, activists said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based activist group, said at least 10 civilians died and more than 40 were wounded when three devices were detonated in the largely-Alawite north-western Waroud suburb of the capital. The official Sana news agency said several people had died. Later on Tuesday, a bomb in a parked taxi went off near a mosque in al-Qadam destroying nearby buildings and burying people in the rubble, activists said. "Lots of people were hit inside their apartments. Rescue efforts are hampered because electricity was cut off right after the explosion," activist Abu Hamza al-Shami told Reuters news agency. Meanwhile, clashes, shelling, explosions and air raids were reported in different parts of Syria on Tuesday. SOHR said seven people had been killed by government air raids in the Houla region of Homs province, and that eight people had died after troops shelled the town of Saraqeb in Idlib province. Seven civilians also died when warplanes bombed the south-eastern Damascus suburb of Kafarbatna, it added.
