"Mortar rounds fired by terrorists struck around Shallal Square in the Mazraa neighborhood, wounding 10 people and damaging cars," the official SANA news agency said.

Elsewhere in the capital, mortar fire by foreign-backed militants wounded six people near a Red Crescent hospital and a market, SANA reported.

The new casualties came a day after militants’ mortar fire killed nine children and wounded more than 20 other people in two districts of the capital.

The rounds hit a school and a school vehicle in two majority-Christian neighborhoods, state media said.

Different districts of central Damascus have come under repeated bombardment in recent months from militants’ positions in the outskirts of the capital.

The war in Syria started in March 2011, when pro-reform protests turned into a massive insurgency following the intervention of Western and regional states.

Since the start of the war al-Qaeda affiliated groups have been emerging under different names in Syria, fighting at the side of the US-backed opposition which is leading one of the bloodiest conflicts in the recent history.

According to the United Nations, more than 100,000 people have been killed and millions displaced due to the turmoil that has gripped Syria for over two years.

SHI/SHI