HOMS, Syria, April 29 (UPI) -- Nearly 60 people were killed in Syria Tuesday from a car bomb attack in Homs and a mortar attack in Damascas.
The car bomb attack killed at least 37 people in the regime-controlled city of Homs, with most of the victims being civilians from the predominately Alawite district. A Syrian government official also reports that 85 people were wounded in the attack, and at least five of those killed were children.
Earlier in Damascas, at least 14 people were killed and 80 wounded in a mortar attack on the Badr-Eddin al-Hooni Institute for Islamic Sharia Sciences, in the al-Shaghour neighborhood.
The Syrian government is pinning the blame for the attacks on "terrorists," which is what they call all those who oppose the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The attacks also happened after Assad announced that he would seek re-election, despite calls from both his people and the international community to step down.
The United Nations reported this month that Syria's chemical weapons reached 92 percent removal and destruction by the April 27 deadline. Yet the UN is also investigating the alleged use of chlorine gas on Syrian civilians this month. If proven, it would violate the resolution that demanded Syria cease use of its chemical weapons and hand them over to the UN for destruction. Human Rights Watch has also reported that the Assad regime continues to use barrel bombs on its citizens, even though the UN Security Council demanded they stop.
The Syrian elections will take place June 3.
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