Suicide Attacks Kill Dozens in Homs

A series of suicide attacks on military installations in Syria's government-held city of Homs have killed at least 32 people, including the army's intelligence chief-a close confidante of President Bashar al-Assad.

"There were at least six attackers and several of them blew themselves up near the headquarters of state security and military intelligence," Syrian Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.

Bombers engaged in prolonged gun battles with intelligence officers before detonating their explosive vests.

Governor of Homs Province Talal Barzani said the three blasts killed 32 people and wounded more than 20 others.

The Syrian Observatory said 42 people had been killed.

The attacks hit the heavily guarded Ghouta and Mahatta neighborhoods and security forces locked down the city center.

Syrian state television said the army's intelligence chief General Hassan Daabul died and it paid tribute to the martyrs in Saturday's bombings.

Brigadier Ibrahim Darwish, the head of State Security Branch, was also critically wounded, state-affiliated al-Ikhbariya TV reported.