An explosives-laden bus blew up Tuesday (December 5th) in a neighbourhood of the central Syrian city of Homs that has been repeatedly targeted, killing eight people, AFP reported.

The attack was claimed shortly afterwards by the "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS) in a posting by its propaganda agency Amaq on social media channels.

The blast rocked a street in the Akrameh neighbourhood.

"The toll in the terrorist explosion on al-Ahram Street has risen to eight dead and 15 injured," state television said in a breaking news alert.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a minibus had blown up on the edge of the Akrameh neighbourhood.

The attack left the mangled metal carcasses of burnt-out vehicles strewn across the road and shattered windows in buildings on either side of the street.

Akrameh has been hit by several such attacks in the past, the deadliest of which killed nearly 50 schoolchildren in October 2014.

That attack prompted rare demonstrations and the firing of several local security officials.

Security measures were stepped up after the 2014 attack, including with additional checkpoints and roadblocks.

Homs has been fully controlled by Syria's government since May, when the last opposition fighters in the city were evacuated after a deal with the government.