Car bomb blast in Syria; deaths reported

Women and children were among at least 16 civilians killed in Syria on Thursday in a car bomb explosion outside the central Syrian city of Hama, the country's state news agency said.

Scores were also injured in the blast, which hit near a school in the town of al-Kafat, SANA reported, quoting a source at the Police Command in the province. Tens of homes and cars were heavily damaged by the explosion, a SANA reporter said.

The London-based activist group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported the attack but said that at least 18 people were killed and dozens were injured.

Separately, a girl was killed in a rocket attack in Hama, according to a military source, SANA said.

  

A man reacts after what activists said was an air raid by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the al-Marja district of Aleppo on Monday, December 23. The United Nations estimates more than 100,000 people have been killed since the Syrian conflict began in March 2011. Click through to see the most compelling images taken during the conflict, which is now a civil war: 

 

Free Syrian Army fighters sit in a damaged house in Old Aleppo on December 21.    

 People search for survivors amid the rubble after an airstrike in Aleppo on Tuesday, December 17. 

 

A man sits on the ground after the airstrike in Aleppo on December 17. 

 

A woman carries children following airstrikes on a rebel area of Aleppo on Sunday, December 15.  More pics after the cut

Syrians look at the aftermath of an airstrike on a rebel area of Aleppo on December 15. 

 

Syrians help a wounded woman following airstrikes in Aleppo on December 15. 

 

Syrians look at the aftermath of an airstrike on a rebel area of Aleppo on December 15. 

Syrian rebel fighters clash with pro-government forces in Aleppo on Wednesday, December 11. 

A woman weeps inside a damaged vehicle after forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad captured the town of Nabak on Monday, December 9. 

 

Rebel fighters in Aleppo fortify a barricade with destroyed public buses on Wednesday, December 4. 

 

A rebel fighter takes position during fighting with government forces in Deir Ezzor on Monday, December 2.   

Shiite fighters from a group called the Hussein Brigade search for rebels from the Free Syrian Army in Hejeira on Thursday, November 21. 

 

Free Syrian Army rebels battle government forces in Aleppo, Syria, on Monday, November 18. 

 

A rebel fighter fires his weapon as he stands amid rubble and debris during clashes with Syrian government forces in Deir Ezzor, Syria, on Monday, November 11. 

 

A rebel fighter prepares an improvised mortar shell in Aleppo, Syria, on Saturday, November 9. 

Two injured men are transported on a cart in Aleppo, Syria, following shelling as fighting between pro-government forces and rebels continues on Saturday, October 26. 

Rebel fighters hold a position in Deir Ezzor, Syria, on Thursday, October 24. 

An opposition fighter stands in the doorway of a building as he smokes a cigarette in Deir Ezzor, Syria, on Tuesday, October 22. 

People use buckets as they try to extinguish a fire that ignited at a fuel station in Aleppo, Syria, on Sunday, October 20.        Culled; cnnnews