Cairo, October 26 Forty people were killed Friday in a car bombing close to a masjid in Damascus province, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The dead include ladies and youngsters and many of the dozens of injured are in serious condition, activists told the observatory.

The scene of the explosion, a village known as Suq wadi Barada, is controlled by rebels, however Syrian government forces are deployed simply outside the community, the activists said.

The National Coalition, representing a number of opposition teams, blamed forces loyal to President Bashar Assad for the blast, that occurred even as worshippers at the masjid were concluding Friday prayers.

Official news organization Sanaa attributed the attack to “terrorists”.

The UN estimates that Syria’s internal conflict has claimed quite 100,000 lives since March 2011, once violence erupted in the wake of harsh government repression of peaceful protests.