Car bomb near school in central Syria kills 16

Car bomb near school in central Syria kills 16

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — A powerful car bomb exploded near a school in a central province today, killing at least 16 people and causing massive damage to a residential area, Syrian state media and an opposition watchdog said. The explosion targeted the al-Kaffat village in Hama province, an area populated mostly by members of the country’s minority Ismaili sect, a branch of Shiite Islam. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but radical Sunni extremists among the rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Assad’s government frequently have targeted the country’s religious minorities in the course of the civil war, now in its third year.