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IS claims bombings across Syria

At least 33 people were killed and dozens of others wounded on Monday when at least five explosions rocked several key Syrian cities, Syrian national TV reported.

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A car-bomb hit the Arzouna bridge area at the entrance to the north-western coastal city of Tartous, killing 11 people and injuring 45 others, the official SANA News Agency reported.

A vehicle bomb struck the city of Homs at the entrance to the Bab Tadmur neighbourhood, SANA said. The Observatory said it hit an army checkpoint and two officers were killed.

Two bomb explosions ripped through the entrance to the western port city of Tartus, located 220 kilometers (136 miles) northwest of the capital, Damascus, on Monday, claiming over 30 civilian lives.

A string of bombings claimed by the Islamic State group killed dozens across Syria yesterday, as Washington and Moscow failed to agree on a deal to stem the country’s violence.

The multiple explosions hit government-held Tartus and Homs, as well as Hasakeh, which is mostly controlled by Kurdish forces but where the regime maintains a presence.

The Islamic State group said it was behind the attacks. ISIL said a suicide auto bomb targeted a military checkpoint in the area west of Damascus.

It was hit in May by several explosions that killed more 100 people.

Another explosion followed when a suicide bomber detonated his explosive belt among a crowd who gathered to help the wounded in the first blast, said the report.

Five people were killed in the city, including three members of the Kurdish police force and two civilians, the Syrian Observatory told reporters.

U.S. President Barack Obama described talks with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin as tough but productive after their meeting at the G20 summit in China.

Bombings are commonplace in Syria, and airstrikes kill an equivalent number on a daily basis.

It said a bomber detonated himself at a military checkpoint in the Sabura area in the countryside of Damascus, and another one detonated himself at a checkpoint in the central city of Homs. ISIL said it also carried out an attack in Qamishli, in Hassakeh province.

The jihadist group has been losing ground to both an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters known as the Syrian Democratic Forces and, more recently, to a Turkish offensive involving rebels loyal to Ankara.

The Observatory said three people died in the Saboura blast.

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US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov have been trying to reach a deal for weeks that would curb the violence between the Russian-backed Assad’s government forces and moderate rebels backed by the US.

Syria bombings: Four explosions hit government-held cities of Damascus, Tartous and Homs