Special to WorldTribune.com

Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility for a car bombing in Homs, Syria on Dec. 12 that killed 16 people.

Talal Barazi, the provincial governor of Homs, said another 54 people were wounded in the attack near the Al-Ahli hospital in the Alawite-majority Al-Zahraa neighborhood. Barazi said at least 330 pounds of explosives were detonated.

“The explosion was terrifying. Body parts were on the ground…it was one of the biggest explosions to hit Homs,” a 28-year-old woman working in a neighborhood coffee shop told AFP. “The blast left a huge crater, and people were running in every direction in fear of more explosions.”

ISIL released a statement in which it said the bomber, identified as Abu Ahmed al-Homsi, parked the car and detonated it before then activating his explosives belt. ISIL said put the toll of the attack at more than 25 dead, with 70 wounded.

“These terrorist explosions will not discourage the Syrian people from national reconciliation and fighting terrorism,” said Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi, according to state news agency SANA.

The attack occurred three days after hundreds of rebel fighters and civilians were evacuated from Homs following a United Nations deal with the regime of President Bashar Assad in which Homs’ last rebel-held neighborhood, Waer, will be turned over to government forces in exchange for humanitarian aid for residents.

Also on Dec. 12, 10 people, including a child, were killed in air strikes on the rebel-held town of Atareb in northern Aleppo province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The Observatory said it was there was no confirmation on whether the strikes were carried out by Syrian government warplanes or Russia’s air force.

  Bashar Assad, Meanwhile in Syria: ISIL bomb kills 16 Alawites, Talal Barazi, WorldTribune.com, wounds 54