1st LD: Car bomb kills 3 in Syria's Homs

At least three people were killed and over 30 others wounded on Wednesday, when a booby-trapped vehicle tore through a pro-government district of Syria's central province of Homs, the state-run al-Ekhbaria TV reported.

The report said that the car was parked at a crowded street in the neighborhood of Ekrima in central part of Homs and was remotely detonated.

The security forces cordoned off the area and ambulances rushed to the scene.

The Alawite neighborhood of Ekrima was targeted late last year by twin car bombings, which went off near schools, killing many schoolchildren.

Rebels in the outskirts of Homs have repeatedly opted to stage blasts in the pro-government districts of that city to retaliate against the government troops' targeting of their areas.

Wednesday's blast comes a week after the Syrian authorities and rebels inside the al-Waer neighborhood agreed to a truce as a prelude to neutralize al-Waer and allow besieged people there to return to their normal lives.

Al-Waer was the last rebel stronghold inside the city, but the outskirts of Homs still harbor major rebel groups, such as in the towns of Rastan and Talbiseh. Endit