Rebel shelling kills four civilians in Damascus

BEIRUT: Rebel shelling on the Syrian capital Damascus killed four civilians on Sunday, a Britain-based monitor and a medical source said.

Shelling on the central district of Old Damascus killed four civilians and wounded seven others, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said.

A doctor receiving the casualties confirmed the death toll and said most of the injured were "gravely wounded by shrapnel".

State news agency SANA said artillery fire killed two people and wounded nine others in the Bab Sharqi area of Old Damascus.

The Observatory said shelling on Sunday hit several areas of the capital including the eastern district of Tabbaleh.

It followed a drop in violence in Damascus since the implementation in July of a de-escalation zone in a rebel-held area to its east.

Eastern Ghouta is one of four such zones agreed at May peace talks on the Syrian conflict sponsored by rebel backer Turkey and regime supporters Russia and Iran.

SANA said four people were wounded on Saturday when two mortar rounds hit the Absasiyeen Square in the centre of the city.

More than 330,000 people have been killed in Syria since the country's conflict began in March 2011 with anti-government protests.

Damascus has been largely spared from the worst of the violence in the six-year war, despite being shaken by two bomb attacks in recent weeks.

On Wednesday, three suicide bombers killed at least two people near the main police headquarters in Damascus, in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group.

IS also claimed an October 2 bomb attack at a police station in the capital that killed at least 17 people.