Syria was hit by a lethal car bombing yesterday, the third in two days, ahead of a mission sent by special envoy Kofi Annan for talks on a monitoring operation to end a year of bloodshed.

Technical experts from the United Nations and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, meanwhile, have started a mission to assess the humanitarian impact of the conflict, a senior OIC official said yesterday.

State media, charging that such bombings aim to sabotage efforts to find a political solution to Syria’s crisis, said yesterday’s blast in Aleppo killed two people, including a woman, and wounded 30 others.

State television showed heavy damage to apartment buildings and private cars, while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attack targeted political security offices.

Aleppo, the second largest city in Syria and its commercial hub, was the target of car bombings on February 10 that killed 28 people.

On Saturday, twin car bombings killed 27 people and wounded 140 others in the heart of Syria’s capital, mostly civilians, the Interior Ministry said, blaming “terrorists” for the attacks near police and air force headquarters.