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BEIRUT (Reuters) - A suicide bomber in Syria’s Hama killed two people and injured nine others on Thursday, state media said, in the second such attack in a government-held city this week.

State television said the attacker set off an explosive belt at a bus station in the southwest of the city.

The governor of Hama said the explosion killed two women, according to another state-run channel, al-Ikhbariya. It had quoted him earlier as saying three people had died.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

On Sunday, a bomb killed 20 people and wounded dozens more in Damascus. The Syrian capital has enjoyed relative security in recent years even as the multi-sided conflict rages on.

Still, since the start of the year, several blasts have struck the capital as well as the city of Homs, which is also under the control of President Bashar al-Assad’s government fighting rebel groups in the six-year war.

Separate suicide bomb attacks that hit Damascus in March were claimed by Islamic State and an Islamist insurgent alliance called Tahrir al-Sham which includes al Qaeda’s former Syrian branch.

With the help of Russia and Iranian-backed militias, Damascus has gained the military advantage over the rebels, including some supported by Turkey, the United States and Gulf monarchies. Assad’s government has shored up its rule over Syria’s main urban centers in the populated west of the country.

Since a Moscow-led de-escalation plan began in May, Syrian government forces and their allies have focused their energies on battling the ultra-hardline Islamic State militant group.