Blasts kill dozens in Syria as U.S.-Russia truce talks make little progress

BEIRUT/HANGZHOU, China, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Explosions in government-controlled areas of Syria and a province held by Kurdish militia killed dozens on Monday, while the United States and Russia failed to make concrete progress towards a ceasefire. It was not immediately clear if there was any link between the blasts reported along a road outside Damascus, in the state-held cities of Homs and Tartous - which hosts a Russian military base - and in northeastern city of Hasaka, which is controlled by Kurdish YPG fighters. More than five years of civil war have cut Syria into a patchwork of territories held by the government and an often competing array of armed factions, including Kurdish militia fighters, a loose coalition of rebels groups, and Islamic State. Two of the explosions on Monday hit the Arzouna bridge area at the entrance to the Mediterranean city of Tartous, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and state news agency Sana said. The Britain-based Observatory, which maintains a network of contacts in Syria, put the overall death toll at 53, although Syrian state TV said 48 were killed. Syria's official Sana news agency reported that 30 civilians had been killed and 45 others injured in the Tartous countryside. The blasts targeted the Arzuna bridge, 'the first a car bomb and the second a suicide bomber who detonated his explosive belt when people gathered to help the wounded,' according to state television. A car bomb struck a military checkpoint in the central provincial capital of Homs, killing three soldiers and a civilian, and wounding 10 others, according to the governor of Homs. Image copyright EPA Image caption The bomb in Homs targeted a military checkpoint, according to the provincial governor

The governor of Homs province said the car bomb targeted a military checkpoint and that the casualties were soldiers. In the northeastern city of Hasakeh, a bomber on a motorbike killed six members of the Kurdish security forces and two civilians. Image copyright EPA Image caption The area targeted in Saboura is home to security officers and their families

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based group that monitors the conflict in Syria through a network of sources, said three of the dead were Kurdish security personnel, known as the Asayish.
Several bombings kill at least 40 people in government and Kurdish held territory across Syria, including Tartus, Homs, Al-Hasakah and Damascus. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claims responsibility.