Witnesses and an official said that the bomb struck a crowded area in the middle of the day on Monday. The AFP news agency reported that at least 30 people had been wounded besides the fatalities.
The car bomb struck the car park of the city's main emergency Al-Jala hospital.
The blast was caused by a car bomb and "caused deaths and injuries", a security official said, without immediately being able to give further details.
"I saw people running and some of them were collecting parts of bodies," another witness said.