BEIRUT (Reuters) - Sixteen people were killed and more than 25 wounded, including women and children, in a car bomb in Qatana, a town 25 kilometers (15 miles) southwest of Damascus, Lebanon's al-Manar television channel said on Thursday.

Qatana is part of a string of outlying suburbs and towns where President Bashar al-Assad's forces have been trying to push back rebels. The attack follows three bombs which exploded at the Interior Ministry on Wednesday evening, killing five.

(Reporting by Oliver Holmes)