Blast rocks Damascus suburb

A deadly blast rocked a Damascus suburb, killing two security forces members, among 10 people killed across Syria on Friday, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The bloodshed came as people took to the streets to demonstrate against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad following weekly Muslim prayers, the main day of protests in the 15-month uprising. The blast in the capital’s Qudssaya neighbourhood tore a car to shreds and damaged a military bus -- the reported target — as well as some nearby residential buildings.

Elsewhere, an explosion in front of a police station in the northwestern city of Idlib killed five people, including another two more members of the security forces, said the Britain-based Observatory. “It was a powerful explosion that destroyed the facade of the building," said the watchdog, which also reported that a civilian was shot dead at Kfar Nebbol in the same province.

Strike on Homs again

In other violence, troops battled to take back the rebel bastion of Khaldiyeh in the central city of Homs, shelling the district.  Khaldiyeh in the north of the city has been pounded intermittently since Friday morning “at a rate of five shells a minute,” the Observatory said.

Meanwhile, many Syrian civilians are fleeing their homes to escape widening fighting between security forces and rebels, the Red Cross said on Friday.