Four killed as bomb blast hits Syrian regime-held Homs

A bomb blast has killed at least four people and wounded dozens of others near a Syrian Arab Red Crescent centre in the regime-held city of Homs in central Syria on Thursday.

State television reported the attack in the Zahraa neighbourhood, a majority Alawite area, the religious sect to which President Bashar al-Assad belongs.

"A bomb exploded near a Red Cross centre in the Zahraa neighbourhood," a breaking news alert said.

"Four civilians were killed and others wounded, some of them seriously," it added.

The neighbourhood has frequently been targeted in blasts during Syria's six-year conflict.

In September, four people were killed in an explosion at the entrance to Zahraa that was claimed by the Islamic State group.

The hardline Sunni group also claimed a double bomb attack in the neighbourhood in February that killed 57 people.

Syria's government controls all but one neighbourhood in Homs city, as well as much of the surrounding province.