DHAKA: Syrian state media and anti-government activists say a mortar attack has killed at least 19 people in the central city of Homs.

The official Sana news agency said late on Sunday that the mortar rounds slammed into the pro-government Ghouta and Karm Al Shami neighbourhoods of Homs, reports gulfnews.

It blamed ‘terrorists’ for the attack, employing the term the government uses to describe those trying to topple president Bashar Al Assad.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights activist group also reported the mortar attack in Homs.

Syrian rebels often lob mortar rounds into pro-government neighbourhoods of cities and towns, while Al Assad’s forces indiscriminately strike rebel-held areas with artillery, airstrikes and surface-to-surface missiles.

Syria’s civil war has killed more than 120,000 since the crisis began in March 2.

BDST: 1611 HRS, JAN 13, 2014
Edited by Robab Rosan, Current Affairs Editor