Update: Car bomb kills 5 in Syrian Homs

At least five people were killed and over 35 others wounded on Wednesday when a booby-trapped vehicle tore through the pro-government district of Syria's central province of Homs, the state news agency SANA reported.

Wednesday's blast comes a week following the Syrian authorities and the rebels inside the al-Waer neighborhood agreed to a truce to stabilize the area and allow blockaded people there to return to their normal lives.

The booby-trapped car was parked and remotely detonated at a crowded intersection between the al-Hadara and al-Ushaq streets in the neighborhood of Ekrima in the central part of Homs, said SANA, adding that all the victims were civilians.

Security forces cordoned off the area as the ambulances rushed to the scene to help the wounded, said the report.

For the time being, opposition activists placed the death toll at nine.

The state-run al-Ekhbaria TV aired footage of the blast site, showing destruction scenes of rubble-strewn streets and a destroyed building facade. Burnt, mangled cars were also witnessed along with twisted black metal.

Many children were killed late last year when the predominantly Alawite neighborhood of Ekrima was targeted by twin car bombs, which exploded in the vicinity of schools.

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

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