DAMASCUS, July 18 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian army foiled an attempt to detonate a suicide car bomb in the coastal city of Tartus in northwestern Syria on Tuesday, a Tartus-based military source told Xinhua.
Soldiers hunted down the car on the Homs-Tartus highway, forcing the suicide bomber to take a route near the town of Safsafeh, where the army hit the car, blowing it up in an empty area before it reached its destination, the source said on condition of anonymity.
The suicide bomber was killed when the car was targeted.
Tartus, which hasn't witnessed any insurgency during the country's more than six-year war, has suffered several deadly bombings, mainly in 2016 when scores were killed, including 40 in a blast targeting the city's main entrance in September.
In January this year, a bomb attack killed two security officers who were trying to prevent a car bomb from entering a crowded area in the city.
The bombers detonated their explosives after being stopped by security forces.
