DHAKA: At least 37 people have been killed in explosions in the Syrian city of Homs, officials say.

The attacks, which involved at least one car bomb, also injured dozens, reports the BBC.

Earlier, at least 14 people were killed and more than 80 wounded in a mortar attack on a technical institute in central Damascus.

The attacks come 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.

There are conflicting details about the number of deaths in the government-held, predominantly Alawite neighborhood of Zahra, located to the east of the Old City in Homs.

A Syrian government official said at least 37 people were killed and 85 hurt. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights gave the same death toll figures, with 80 injured.

An international media outlet quoted the provincial governor as saying 45 had died in total. Thirty-six were killed by the car bomb in Zahra while nine were killed by a rocket that followed, Talal al-Barazi said.

‘The rocket fell about half an hour after the bombing on the same area, where there was a crowd of people’ trying to help those injured in the blast, he added.

Homs has been a key battleground between government forces and rebels, with large parts of the city in ruins.

BDST: 1852 HRS, APR 29, 2014