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Suicide attacks kill six in Syria's Hama province -state media

by Reuters
Saturday, 27 February 2016 13:35 GMT

(Updates with second bombing, adds details)

BEIRUT, Feb 27 (Reuters) - At least six people were killed and several were wounded in two attacks by suicide bombers in Syria's Hama province on Saturday, state media said, hours after a ceasefire took effect elsewhere in the country.

Syria's state news agency said a bomber driving a car loaded with explosives blew himself up in the early hours, killing two people on the edge of the town of Salamiya. Another suicide bomber on a motorbike struck at the entrance to the village of Teeba, killing four people, soon afterwards.

The cessation of hostilities agreed as part of a U.S. and Russian plan does not apply to the Islamic State group, which claimed the responsibility for the Salamiya attack, or the Nusra Front -- an al Queda affiliate that has called for an escalation of attacks.

Syria's government and Moscow have said they will not halt combat against the two militant groups.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors Syria's five-year-long war, told Reuters there was calm in many parts of the country since the agreement took force.

"The (Salamiya) car bomb attack is not a breach to the truce because it occurred in an area where the cessation of hostilities agreement does not apply," the Observatory's Rami Abdulrahman added.

Salamiya is a frontline between government forces and Islamic State fighters. (Reporting by Mariam Karouny; Editing by Catherine Evans and Helen Popper)

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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