Car bombing in Syria kills 34

DAMASCUS, Syria: Syria’s state-run news agency says a powerful car bomb explosion has killed 34 civilians and wounded more than 50 others.

SANA says the explosion went off on Friday morning in the government-controlled Horrah village in the countryside near the central city of Hama.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which documents the violence in Syria through a network of activists on the ground, says at least 37 people were killed and scores were wounded.

Car bombs are common in Syria’s civil war, now in its fourth year. The conflict has killed more than 160,000 people according to opposition activists. Nearly a third of the victims were civilians.