Car bomb blast kills one, injures 40 in Syria

One person was killed and 40 others injured Thursday when an explosives-packed car blew up in the central province of Homs, the state-run SANA news agency reported.

The blast targeted al-Ahram Street in al-Nuzha district in Homs, Xinhua quoted as saying, adding that children and women were among those injured.

The report spelled no further details.

Separately, the opposition Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reportedly said that the Syrian authorities released 61 female prisoners as part of a prisoner swap that took place earlier this week which resulted in the release of nine Lebanese Shia pilgrims who were taken captive by the rebels in northern Syria.

The rebels in the northern town of Azaz snatched the Lebanese pilgrims while they were passing through Syria last year.