Syria: Twin attacks on Homs security bases kill dozens

Syrian TV showed the aftermath of the bombings

Gunmen and suicide bombers have attacked security bases in the western Syrian city of Homs, killing at least 32 people.

State TV said the local head of military intelligence was among the dead. Some reports put the death toll at more than 40.

The jihadist group Tahrir al-Sham said it carried out the attacks.

Homs has been under government control since December 2015 when rebels left under a ceasefire deal.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, said attackers targeted the headquarters of military security in the city and also a branch of state security.

The attacks took place in the heavily guarded Ghouta and Mahatta districts.

State TV said provincial army intelligence chief General Hassan Daabul, a close associate of President Bashar al-Assad, was among the dead.

Tahrir al-Sham said five of its fighters had taken part in the assault.

The group was formed when Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, known as the Nusra Front until it broke off formal ties with al-Qaeda last July, merged with four smaller Syrian factions.

Earlier this month it announced that its leader was Hashim al-Sheikh, who previously served as head of the powerful Islamist rebel group, Ahrar al-Sham.

BBC