Car bomb kills at least 18 in Syria

BEIRUT (Reuters) - A car bomb killed at least 18 people a town in southern Syria on Friday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. The bomb went off near a mosque in the town of al-Yadouda near the border with Jordan, Rami Abdulrahman, director of the Observatory, said by phone. Car bombs are commonly deployed as a weapon in the three-year old Syrian conflict. The Observatory said earlier this week that since peace talks between the Syrian government and opposition leaders began in Geneva some three weeks ago, Syrians had died at the fastest rate since the country's civil war erupted. (Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by John Stonestreet)