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BEIRUT – A Syrian activist group says an explosion in the ancestral village of Syrian President Bashar Assad has killed at least four people.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the explosion took place Saturday in a hospital parking lot in Qardaha, the hometown and burial place of Assad’s father. The village is located in Latakia province — a bastion of government support on the Mediterranean coast.
Syrian officials could not be reached for comment. Syrian state media did not report the blast.
Observatory director Rami Abdurrahman said it was not clear whether the explosion was caused by a car bomb or a rocket. He said the blast was the first in Qardaha since Syria’s uprising began in March 2011.
Rebel rocket fire has struck Qardaha’s outskirts in the past.