The death toll from separate terrorist attacks in the Syrian city of Homs has reached 100, with most of the victims being civilians, reports say.

The new figure updates an earlier death toll from the car bombings and mortar fire on April 29.

The al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front has claimed responsibility for the deaths.

The attacks were carried out in an area under the control of the Syrian army and mostly inhabited by President Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite minority community.

More than a dozen others were also killed in separate attacks in the capital, Damascus.

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the attacks are a message from the foreign-backed militants that there will not be any “safe zones” in the country for the presidential elections to be held.

The deadly attacks came a day after Assad formally submitted his nomination to seek a third term in office in an election due to be held on June 3.

Syrian official reports initially said 40 people had been killed and 116 others had been wounded in the Abbasiyeh district of Homs.

Syria has been gripped by deadly violence since 2011. Over 150,000 people have reportedly been killed and millions displaced due to the violence fueled by Western-backed militants.

According to reports, the Western powers and their regional allies — especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey — are supporting the militants operating inside Syria.

SZH/AB/SS