More than 60 civilians dead after army, rebel attacks in Syria

Scores of people have been killed and many more injured in army and rebel attacks in different locations in Syria, activists said, hours before a visit to the Syrian capital by Iran's foreign minister.

Army artillery shelling and air strikes on Wednesday targeting Douma, 10km from central Damascus, killed at least 37 people, including women and children, and injured more than 120, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

Activists also reported that 13 people were killed in air strikes in neighbouring Saqba.

The Syrian Observatory said at least 12 people were killed in rocket attacks by rebels targeting several neighbourhoods in Damascus, including Abu Romaneh and Bab Touma in the centre.

Syrian state TV reported that five civilians were killed and 55 others injured in rebel attacks, saying, "Terrorists launched mortar attacks targeting a number of residential districts in Damascus."

The deaths came as Syria's warring parties declared a 48-hour ceasefire in a front line area after a month of unprecedented mediation from Turkey and Iran, backers of rival sides in Syria.

The ceasefire halted fighting between rebels on the one hand, and the army and its Lebanese Hezbollah allies on the other, in the rebel-held town of Zabadani and in a pair of Shia Muslim villages in Idlib province.