At least nine people are reported killed and 25 others wounded in a car bomb attack on Syrian government-held coastal town of Jableh, state media reported.
Thursday's attack in the Latakia province is the first such explosion since a new ceasefire, brokered by Russia and Turkey, took effect last week.
Two Russian bases are reportedly located in the area, which is the heartland of Syria's Alawites, a Shiite offshoot to which President Bashar al-Assad's family also belongs.
Senior medical officer Ghassan Findi told state television the death toll was expected to rise with rescue operations still continuing and scores of injured still being rushed to nearby hospitals.
State television showed footage of mangled cars and shutters of shops damaged and blown apart as rescue workers cleared the debris amid a heavy security presence in the bustling commercial area near a popular vegetable market and a garage depot.
Jableh has been the target of similar attacks in the past. In May, a string of blasts hit first a crowded bus station, then outside a hospital that was receiving the wounded. About 120 people died in that attack, which was claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for Thursday's bombing. ISIL and several other groups are not part of the broad truce that the government and the opposition agreed on.
Aljazeera