Blast targets hometown of Syria’s Assad, killing 4

DAMASCUS, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) — A car bomb went off in a town in Syria’s coastal city of Latakia on Saturday, killing four people, and injuring others, a pro-government radio and opposition activists said.

The car tore through a parking lot of a hospital in the town of Qirdaha in the countryside of Latakia, hometown of President Bashar al-Assad, said the Sham FM radio.

Meanwhile, the oppositional Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said two soldiers were killed in the blast, noting that it is not clear whether the blast was caused by a booby-trapped car or a rocket that could have targeted that area.

Still, the explosion in Assad’s hometown marks the first bombing to have hit that area since the crisis in Syria began four years ago.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/xinhua-news-agency/150221/blast-targets-hometown-syrias-assad-killing-4