Syria: Scores dead and injured in attacks in Damascus and Homs

More than 50 people have been killed with scores injured in a series of attacks in Syria.

In Damascus at least 14 people lost their lives with 80 wounded in a mortar attack on a technical institute in the centre of the capital.

Four shells were fired during the raid on the institute, which is an Islamic law studies centre with students as young as 14 in attendance.

In a government stronghold of Zahra in the city of Homs a fatal car bomb exploded, followed by a rocket attack.

Close to 40 people are reported to have died.

The Syrian government blamed 'terrorists' for the carnage.

The attacks come after Human Rights Watch accused the Syrian military of indiscriminately using barrel bombs in the city of Aleppo despite UN calls for them to cease.