An activist group said 54 people died during the bombing of a military factory in central Syria this week, Belfast Telegraph said.

Rami Abdul-Rahman of the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that the bombing took place in a government-controlled area on Wednesday February 6 and that reports of it were slow to emerge.

He said a mini-van packed with explosives blew up near the factory in the village of al-Buraq while employees were waiting for buses after work.

Mr Abdul-Rahman also said those killed included 11 women and that all were civilians. He said the factory makes military supplies but not weapons.

Syria's state news agency reported the blast on Wednesday evening, saying "terrorists" detonated a car bomb near a factory. It said there was an unspecified number of casualties.