Sixteen people were killed and more that 25 wounded, including women and children, in a car bomb in Qatana, a town 25 kilometres (15 miles) southwest of Damascus, Lebanon's Al-Manar television channel said Thursday.

Qatana is part of a string of outlying suburbs and towns where President Bashar Al-Assad's forces have been trying to push back rebels. The attack follows three bombs that exploded at the interior ministry Wednesday evening, killing five.