This photo provided by the anti-government activist group Aleppo Media Center (AMC), which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows firefighters hose down burning buildings following a Syrian government air strike in Aleppo, Syria, Friday, April. 18, 2014. Activists say more than 150,000 people have been killed in the Syrian conflict since it began in March 2011. The larger fight to topple Syrian president Bashar Assad has been undermined by fierce rebel infighting, particularly since the beginning of the year. (AP Photo/Aleppo Media Center AMC)
DAMASCUS,聽Syria鈥擜 suicide bomber in a car blew himself up at a checkpoint near a government-controlled town in central聽Syria聽early Saturday, killing at least six soldiers, activists said.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also said the聽bombing聽near Salamiya left an unknown number of civilian casualties.
The Observatory obtains its information from a network of activists on the ground.
A Syrian government official confirmed the聽bombing聽but said four people were killed and nine were wounded. Conflicting death tolls are routine after such attacks. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn鈥檛 authorized to speak to the media.
The聽bombing聽at the entrance of the town comes in the midst of fierce fighting in the central province of Hama.
Syrian forces loyal to President Bashar Assad have been clashing with rebels in the nearby town of Morek, and military helicopters have been dropping crude, explosive-filled barrels over the town of Kafr Zeita, some 40 miles away.
Two activists and a medic in Kafr Zeita told The Associated Press this week that at least three of the crude 鈥渂arrel聽bombs鈥� that fell on their town in April contained canisters of chlorine gas that have caused residents to choke and faint.
The Syrian government accuses rebels of using the canisters, which are readily available and can be used easily.
Car聽bombings聽are a prized tactic of Syrian rebels, particularly those belonging to hard-line Sunni groups.
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