Suicide bomber kills 4 in Assad clan’s hometown

Damascus — A suicide bomber killed four people in a hospital on Saturday in an attack that took Syria's civil war to the ruling Assad clan's hometown for the first time, a monitoring group said.

The attack came as the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that troops had executed 48 people earlier last week in a northern village, among them 10 children.

"The explosion that hit the town of Qardaha... was caused by a suicide bomber driving a car along with another person," said the observatory, adding that the passenger, likely an accomplice, also died in the blast.

"Two women and two soldiers were killed in the attack," said observatory director, Rami Abdel Rahman.

Earlier, state television had reported the blast but did not specify the nature of the attack.

The attack, the first explosion to hit the heart of the western town since the outbreak of Syria's civil war in 2011, took place in the parking lot of Qardaha hospital.

The outskirts of Qardaha have previously come under rocket fire, while Latakia province — where the town is located — has seen several rounds of heavy fighting.

A mausoleum containing the graves of President Bashar Assad's father and predecessor, Hafez, and brother Bassil, is located in Qardaha.

The clan has ruled Syria with an iron fist for more than 40 years.

Syria's war began in March 2011 as a pro-democracy revolt seeking Assad's ouster. It morphed into a conflict after the regime unleashed a brutal crackdown on dissent.