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Blasts Hit Government-Held and Kurdish Parts of Syria, Several Killed

Five explosions hit government-controlled areas and a city held by a Kurdish militia in Syria on Monday morning, killing several people, state media and a monitor said.

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In the northeastern Bab Tadmor (Gate of Palmyra) neighborhood of the western city of Homs, located 162 kilometers (101 miles) north of Damascus, a bomb attack killed two civilians and left seven others injured.

A vehicle bomb struck a military checkpoint in the central provincial capital of Homs, killing three soldiers and a civilian, and wounding 10 others, according to the governor of Homs.

The Observatory said a percussion bomb also went off in the province’s city of Qamishli city, but nobody was harmed. The Observatory said the Homs explosion hit an army checkpoint and two officers were killed.

Numerous attacks, which have caused hundreds of casualties, have been claimed by Islamic State.

The Kremlin’s intervention in Syria in September 2015 has made Russian Federation a primary target for Isis violence, as its backing of the government in Damascus essentially changed the course of the civil war. Their efforts were complicated on Sunday as government forces and their allies again laid siege to rebel-held eastern Aleppo, Syria’s largest city before the war which Assad is determined to fully recapture.

IS said a suicide auto bomb targeted a military checkpoint west of Damascus.

Islamic State fighters carried the out suicide attacks, its Amaq news agency said on Monday.

The explosions came as US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin met on Monday to discuss how to reduce violence in Syria, and a possible ceasefire deal. The Observatory said the blast killed five members of the Kurdish police force, the Asayesh, and three civilians.

At least 40 people have been killed in four bombings across Syria on Monday, Syrian media is reporting.

Both bombers, wearing military uniforms, were disguised as government troops, the military said. Two soldiers were killed and four were injured. The blasts hit government-held Tartus and Homs, as well as Hasakeh, which is mostly controlled by Kurdish forces but where the regime maintains a presence.

Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said the blasts appeared to be coordinated.

Isis claimed twin suicide bombings that killed over 160 people in the neighbouring coastal towns of Tartus and Jableh in May.

An Islamic State attacker on a motorcycle blew himself up in the northeastern city of Hasakeh, killing eight, SANA said.

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The casualty figures come from Syrian media, although there is now no official information on the death and injury tolls, or who was responsible for the explosions.

Syria Crisis Multiple Bombings in Syria Claimed 43 Lives more than 45 injured