DHAKA: Twelve people have been killed and dozens more wounded in a mortar attack on a technical institute in central Damascus.

Syrian state media say, reports the BBC.

Four mortar shells struck the mainly Shia Shaghour neighbourhood of the city, police told the Sana news agency.

Two of the shells hit the Badr al-Din al-Hussein technical institute.

The attack comes a day after president Bashar al-Assad registered to stand for re-election defying calls to step down as a way of ending Syria’s civil war.

The president’s forces have pushed back rebels from many of their strongholds around the capital, but residents say they have responded by increasing the number of rocket and mortar attacks in the centre of the city.

‘Twelve citizens were killed and 50 others wounded by terrorists who targeted the Shaghour neighbourhood,’ Sana reported.

The word ‘terrorists’ is used by the Syrian authorities to describe all those seeking to depose president Assad’s government.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has also reported the mortar attack, saying that the number of fatalities is expected to rise.

BDST: 1501 HRS, APR 29, 2014