Blast in Syria's Hama kills 4 soldiers

Four Syrian army soldiers were killed Saturday when a booby-trapped car ripped through the countryside of the central province of Hama, pro-government Sham FM reported. The car went off between al-Saffeh and al-Ziara districts in the countryside of Hama, the report said, spelling no further details. The blast apparently targeted an army outpost in that area, typical of the tactic of radical Sunni groups fighting across the country to topple the administration of President Bashar al-Assad. Syria's 28-month-old crisis has slid into the quagmire of sectarian conflict between an al-Qaida-backed Sunni rebellion and the Alawite-dominated leadership, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.